Posse Comitatus
- Synopsis
- American television series about the inner workings of the federal government starring Martin Sheen as President Jed Bartlet. In this episode President Bartlet issues an illegal order to assassinate a terrorist; another plotline involves the murder of a male Secret Service agent assigned to protect the female press secretary while she and Bartlet attend a British production, staged by an imaginary British Shakespeare Company, of an amalgamation of the history plays entitled Wars of the Roses on Broadway. Cross-cutting between the murder and the production illustrates how the play and the assassination parallel each other.
- Series
- West Wing, The
- Language
- English
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Television
- Technical information
- Colour / Sound
- Transmission details
- 22 May 2002 (Channel: NBC)
- Duration
- 60 mins
Credits
- Director
- Alex Graves
- Producer
- Aaron Sorkin
- Writer
- Aaron Sorkin
- Cast
Allison Janney C.J. Cregg Dule Hill Charlie Young John Spencer Leo McGarry Mark Harmon Simon Donavon Martin Sheen President Josiah ‘Jed’ Bartlet Richard Schiff Toby Ziegler Rob Lowe Sam Seaborn
Additional Details
- Production type
- Television and Radio Drama
- Plays
- Henry VI part 1; Henry VI part 2; Henry VI part 3
- Subjects
- Drama
- Keywords
- politics; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)
Notes
- Notes
- Available on DVD from retailers; and online from various streaming platforms including YouTube, Apple TV, Amazon Prime (05/2022). A transcript of the episode can be found at http://www.westwingtranscripts.com/search.php?flag=getTranscript&id=66&keyword=shakespeare (accessed 05/2022).
- General
- This episode, the third season finale, concluded a three episode arc in which the production of The Wars of the Roses is mentioned several times.
- History
- Episode 22 of Season 3. Overall the 65th episode of the series.
- Reviews
- Burt, Richard ‘U.S. Television’ in Burt, Richard (ed). Shakespeares After Shakespeares: an Encyclopedia of the Bard in Mass Media and Popular Culture. 2 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2006. (p. 602, entry 2731). Burt gives a detailed account of the narrative and the Shakespeare connection.
Production Company
Online Retailer
- Name
amazon.co.uk
- Web
- http://www.amazon.co.uk External site opens in new window
How to cite this record
Shakespeare, "Posse Comitatus". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/shakespeare/search/index.php/title/av69424 (Accessed 19 Sep 2024)