So makest thou faith an enemy to faith; / And like a civil war set'st oath to oath, / Thy tongue against thy tongue.

King John is a rarely produced but highly entertaining political thriller. The ambitious John (Michael Forden Walker) has stolen the throne from his young nephew, Arthur (Khalil Flemming), and is ready to go to war with France to defend his power. The unexpected entrance of Pandulph (John Kuntz), an ambassador from the pope, throws John’s plans off course and sets in motion a series of backroom deals, shifting alliances, and lightning-speed intrigue. The players: capricious rulers, treacherous nobles, Arthur’s desperate mother (Jennie Israel), John’s conniving mother (Janet Morrison), a cheeky royal bastard (Bill Barclay), and, of course, the shifty King John.

King John’s director, Benjamin Evett, sees the play as “a fugue on betrayal and the arrogance of privileged people. I see a great parallel between the people in this play and the mega-business world, the ultra rich. The play is all about the backroom deals that happen just offstage at a major public event — a photo op, press conference, that sort of thing. It's scary what happens there — its also really entertaining.”