The Old Globe's design work for Shakespeare's history/tragedy almost tells the story by itself. A stark, decaying black wall dominates the stage, through which light pierces and eventually punctures. The tyrannical reignof King Richard II is the barrier, penetrated by the forces of King Henry IV and his new worldview. John Lee Beatty's set tells of the King's fall better than the actors, at least half of whom are stiff and more concerned with getting the lines right than connecting with each other orbuilding a character. What Robert Sean Leonard does as Richard he does well. He has the music and the inflections. But he starts as a poet and passive-aggressive tyrant, which makes the King's fall less precipitous, the tragedy less acute.