RICHARD                    Farewell my lord. Securely I espy

Virtue with valour couchèd in thine eye.

Order the trial, Marshal, and begin.

LORD MARSHAL        Harry of Hereford, Lancaster and Derby,

Receive thy lance, and God defend the right.

BOLINGBROKE          Strong as a tower in hope, I cry amen.

LORD MARSHAL        [to an attendant] Go bear this lance to Thomas, Duke of Norfolk.

FIRST HERALD           Harry of Hereford, Lancaster and Derby

Stands here for God, his sovereign and himself,

On pain to be found false and recreant,

To prove the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray,

A traitor to his God, his King and him,

And dares him to set forward to the fight.

SECOND HERALD      Here standeth Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk,

On pain to be found false and recreant,

Both to defend himself and to approve

Henry of Hereford, Lancaster and Derby

To God, his sovereign and to him disloyal,

Courageously and with a free desire,

Attending but the signal to begin. (1.3.97-116)

 

A long passage, but it’s so formulaic that it made sense not to break it earlier. Bolingbroke and Mowbray have said their pieces, and now their combat must begin. It’s not clear whom King Richard is addressing, when he suggests that he sees both virtue and valour in their eyes, and it could be either (although if he’s speaking to Mowbray, it could be delivered with some irony). It’s time for the combat, and so the control of the proceedings is handed back to the Lord Marshal, after that brief interlude of passionate, high-flying rhetoric. The lances are ritually handed over (do we really want to be dealing with full-sized lances, on and off-stage? I suspect not. Some tweaking may be called for here). And Bolingbroke gets the last word, in effect, with a striking statement: Strong as a tower in hope, I cry amen, he replies to the Marshal’s ritual pronouncement, taking his lance. Then it’s over to the heralds, reciting titles and repeating the charges, reminding everyone of what’s at stake: treason, and death. Suspense ratchets up, as everyone, Bolingbroke and Mowbray, and the audience, await the signal to begin. There may be a drumroll; even if not, the heralds’ summons perform the same function…