William Shakespeare
Richard II
The full script in Final Draft, Word & PDF
A king who believes in his divine right is deposed by his cousin Bolingbroke in a play written almost entirely in verse.
PDFs Only
$4.99
- ✓ Stageplay PDF (92 pp.)
- ✓ Screenplay PDF (84 pp.)
- ✓ Instant download
Full Package
$12.99
- ✓ Final Draft (.fdx)
- ✓ Microsoft Word + RTF
- ✓ Screenplay + Stageplay PDFs
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- Genre
- History
- Written
- c. 1595
- Setting
- England and Wales
- Scenes
- 19
- Speaking roles
- 33
- Uncut running time
- ~2h 40m
What happens in Richard II
Henry Bolingbroke accuses Thomas Mowbray of treason before King Richard II. Richard stops their trial by combat and banishes both. When Bolingbroke's father, John of Gaunt, dies, Richard seizes the Lancaster estates to pay for war in Ireland, and Bolingbroke comes home to reclaim his inheritance.
Richard returns to find his support gone. Over a series of scenes at Flint Castle and at Westminster he gives up the crown in a public ceremony, and the nobles around him quickly change allegiance. Richard is imprisoned at Pomfret, where he reflects on kingship and his own fall, and Bolingbroke, now Henry IV, must live with what has been done in his name.
See the formatting
The first page of Act I, exactly as it appears in the files you download.
The biggest roles
Share of the play's spoken words, counted from the script. 33 characters speak; 16 of them have under 1% of the text — natural candidates for doubling.
| Role | Share of the text | Speeches |
|---|---|---|
| King Richard II | | 110 |
| Henry Bolingbroke | | 96 |
| Duke Of York | | 57 |
| John Of Gaunt | | 28 |
| Northumberland | | 38 |
| Thomas Mowbray | | 13 |
| Queen | | 28 |
| Duchess Of York | | 28 |
For directors
Richard holds 27.5% of the text and Bolingbroke 14.3%, so the central pairing is clear. York (10.3%), Gaunt (6.9%), Northumberland (5.0%) and Mowbray (4.9%) make a strong second tier. Thirty-three speaking roles over 19 scenes, 16 of them under 1%, supports doubling among nobles, gardeners and soldiers. Uncut it runs about 2 hours 40 minutes, a little long for a conventional evening.
Cutting notes
- The York and Aumerle conspiracy scenes in 5.2 and 5.3 are frequently shortened because they mix comedy into a tragic final movement.
- The deposition scene was omitted from the earliest printed quartos; modern productions normally keep it as the heart of the play.
- Some of the formal lamentation scenes among the minor nobles are trimmed to keep the focus on Richard.
For teachers
Typical study topics include the divine right of kings, the transfer of power, the role of language and ceremony, and the contrast between Richard and Bolingbroke. Students often examine Gaunt's dying speech about England in 2.1, the deposition scene in 4.1, and Richard's prison soliloquy in 5.5. The play is also commonly studied as the start of the Henriad, the sequence that continues with Henry IV.
Questions
Is this the complete, uncut text of Richard II?
Yes. Every file contains the full play — 19 scenes and about 21,900 spoken words. Cut it yourself in Word or Final Draft to fit your running time.
What is the difference between the stageplay and screenplay layouts?
The stageplay layout indents stage directions and sets dialogue full-width, like a theatre script. The screenplay layout follows film conventions: scene headings and action flush left, character names centred, dialogue in a narrower column. Both tiers include both layouts as PDFs; the Full Package adds editable Final Draft and Word files of each.
Can I use this Richard II script for a production or a class?
Yes. Shakespeare's plays are in the public domain, so there are no royalties to pay for staging them. Edit, stage, film or teach with these files.
How do I receive the files?
Right after checkout you land on a private download page, and the link is also emailed to you. It keeps working, so you can re-download any time.
