by William Shakespeare
seen at the Barbican on 13 January 2016 as part two of 'King & Country'
This revival of the RSC's 2014 production is directed by Gregory Doran and designed by Stephen Brimson Lewis with music by Paul Englishby. It features Jasper Britton as King Henry IV, Alex Hassell as Prince Hal, Anthony Sher as Falstaff, Sam Marks as Ned Poins, Sean Chapman as the Duke of Northumberland and Matthew Needham as Hotspur. As part of the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, it is being presented with Richard II, Henry IV Part Two and Henry V as a sequence entitled 'King & Country'.
In this production, the play begins as if exactly where Richard II left off - Henry's protestation of innocence and vow to go to the Holy Land at the end of the former play leading quite naturally into the opening speech of this play. Here, the continuity is further emphasised by the ghostly figure of the murdered king who turns away and vanishes as the play begins.
The play is quite different in tone from Richard II but the set is designed in the same way and the same actors play characters who are in both plays. Jasper Britton remarked in the Q&A session afterwards that he had not played both Bolingbroke and King Henry across the plays before and that it did influence his performance in building a consistent picture of the character. Interestingly, his recrimination of Prince Hal was played more in weariness than anger, with the same slightly sardonic half-smile as he listened to his son's excuses that he had worn while King Richard deposed himself so theatrically. It was all of a piece with a man who had hoped to enjoy the fruits of worldly success only to find that both inner insecurities and exterior problems would continue to dog him. Now the king wore his hair loose, but it was shorter than Richard's and bestowed no glamour on him - rather, he looked weary and disillusioned, and physically unkempt.
Opposing him politically were the Duke of Northumberland and Harry Hotspur, ably performed by Sean Chapman and Matthew Needham respectively. The Duke was determined and calculating, but unable through sickness to help at the crucial moment; meanwhile Hotspur was impetuous but heroic. Matthew Needham showed the temper, the totally unsubtle manner - easily riled by pompous men or slights to his pride, easily confused by the true affection of his long-suffering wife - without teetering into hectoring bluster or overblown histrionics.
In complete contrast of course are the 'Eastcheap' scenes with Prince Hal and Falstaff. They are high-spirited and comic, but the comedy runs the risk of being outdated; the myth of the tearaway prince who is going to come good in the end is both too well-known and no longer relevant to our view of the world. Anthony Sher gave us a fussing sublimely self-important but at times wheedling Falstaff, playing off Alex Hassell's energetic and lively prince. But Hal's amusement looked occasionally overdone - much bending back at the knees with glee too heartily signalled - and the clever word play is no longer to our taste. Though Alex Hassell and Sam Marks made an engaging pair as Prince Hal and Ned Poins, the scene with the foolish tapster Francis, hilarious to them, was not particularly funny to watch.
Prince Hal was more convincing when more responsible: his disgust at Falstaff's chicanery over his commission sorely tempted him not to indulge his friend any further, while his final encounter with Hotspur showed us two warriors well matched. Likewise, the reconciliation between Hal and his father had more power than the play-acting scene in Eastcheap where he and Falstaff take turns playing the prince and the king. This was played as a lark with very few serious overtones, which made it harder to appreciate whether Hal really had any serious qualms about what he was doing amongst the low-life.
Inevitably the play suffers from having its own internal dynamic but at the same time clearly not finishing the story - the rebels are checked but not finally defeated; Hal is still a tearaway and Falstaff irrepressible. The production lacked the focused brilliance of Richard II but was nonetheless sterling work.
The play is quite different in tone from Richard II but the set is designed in the same way and the same actors play characters who are in both plays. Jasper Britton remarked in the Q&A session afterwards that he had not played both Bolingbroke and King Henry across the plays before and that it did influence his performance in building a consistent picture of the character. Interestingly, his recrimination of Prince Hal was played more in weariness than anger, with the same slightly sardonic half-smile as he listened to his son's excuses that he had worn while King Richard deposed himself so theatrically. It was all of a piece with a man who had hoped to enjoy the fruits of worldly success only to find that both inner insecurities and exterior problems would continue to dog him. Now the king wore his hair loose, but it was shorter than Richard's and bestowed no glamour on him - rather, he looked weary and disillusioned, and physically unkempt.
Opposing him politically were the Duke of Northumberland and Harry Hotspur, ably performed by Sean Chapman and Matthew Needham respectively. The Duke was determined and calculating, but unable through sickness to help at the crucial moment; meanwhile Hotspur was impetuous but heroic. Matthew Needham showed the temper, the totally unsubtle manner - easily riled by pompous men or slights to his pride, easily confused by the true affection of his long-suffering wife - without teetering into hectoring bluster or overblown histrionics.
In complete contrast of course are the 'Eastcheap' scenes with Prince Hal and Falstaff. They are high-spirited and comic, but the comedy runs the risk of being outdated; the myth of the tearaway prince who is going to come good in the end is both too well-known and no longer relevant to our view of the world. Anthony Sher gave us a fussing sublimely self-important but at times wheedling Falstaff, playing off Alex Hassell's energetic and lively prince. But Hal's amusement looked occasionally overdone - much bending back at the knees with glee too heartily signalled - and the clever word play is no longer to our taste. Though Alex Hassell and Sam Marks made an engaging pair as Prince Hal and Ned Poins, the scene with the foolish tapster Francis, hilarious to them, was not particularly funny to watch.
Prince Hal was more convincing when more responsible: his disgust at Falstaff's chicanery over his commission sorely tempted him not to indulge his friend any further, while his final encounter with Hotspur showed us two warriors well matched. Likewise, the reconciliation between Hal and his father had more power than the play-acting scene in Eastcheap where he and Falstaff take turns playing the prince and the king. This was played as a lark with very few serious overtones, which made it harder to appreciate whether Hal really had any serious qualms about what he was doing amongst the low-life.
Inevitably the play suffers from having its own internal dynamic but at the same time clearly not finishing the story - the rebels are checked but not finally defeated; Hal is still a tearaway and Falstaff irrepressible. The production lacked the focused brilliance of Richard II but was nonetheless sterling work.
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