Reviewed by James Karas
The Royal Shakespeare Company has
staged a sinewy, muscular and superb production of the first part of King
Henry IV at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon
The renovated theatre sports a large
stage with the audience seated on three sides. It gives immediacy to the
performances that is second to none.
Director Gregory Doran gives full
consideration to the political and martial part of the play as well as doing
excellent work with its comic side in the tavern in Eastcheap. The central characters
of the play are the antagonists Prince Hal (Alex Hassell) and Hotspur (Trevor
White) but as usual the play is dominated by the immortal Falstaff in the hands
of Antony Sher.
The play opens with a lengthy
speech by King Henry IV (Jasper Britton) who has a troubled conscience having
recently deposed and killed his cousin King Richard II. Rather than letting the
King talk with no context, Doran shows Henry prostrate on the floor of an
abbey. There is a large crucifix hanging from the ceiling and we hear church
hymns. King Henry is doing penance for his sins. Now we know why he is dreaming
of a crusade to Jerusalem.
King Henry is not the major character
but Falstaff, even if he does not get most of the lines, dominates the play and
our imagination. Antony Sher plays an exceptional Sir John. Sher is not a fat
man and Doran seems to have resisted the temptation to stuff him with pillows.
Sher does not need it. He is a superb Falstaff without resorting to cheap
farcical tricks for laughs. This Falstaff is funny but he is also very human. There
is a serious or perhaps just human side of his immorality or amorality.
He has some extraordinary mates
at the tavern. Mistress Quickly (Paola Dionisotti), the worn-out owner of The
Boar’s Head, is aptly named but looks like she has been around the block more
times than can be reasonably expected of a human being. Falstaff’s follower
Bardolph (Joshua Richards) with his bright red face is more pathetic than
funny.
Hassell as Prince Hal is
athletic, agile and every inch a prince except for the fact that he is mixed up
with the wrong company and is enjoying it a bit too much. He shows his true
nature when he leaves Cheapside and goes to fight the rebels. We quickly forget
his transgressions and root for the brave warrior, dutiful son and humane
prince. That is what we are supposed to do, in any event. Excellent work by
Hassell.
Hal is the counterpart of the
rebellious Hotspur. Here Doran wants to contrast the two youths and does so very
effectively. White plays Hotspur not as someone badly in need of anger
management, as one would say today, but as an arrogant, easily infuriated young
man who is practically mad. With his blond hair, athletic physique and upturned
nose, this Hotspur is a war machine in search of glory.
The warring noblemen all believe
or pretend to believe that they have God and right on their side but it is easier
to see them as ambitious, greedy men seeking to enlarge their wealth and power.
Joshua Richards doubles (many of the actors take on more than one role) as the
Welsh Lord Owen Glendower. He is a fantastic character and Richards is good and
entertaining in the role. Sean Chapman plays the Scots Earl of Douglas, a wild
man with a thick accent that is quite marvelous.
The wreath goes to Doran for a
production that relies on the strength of his imagination and the strength of
the play to give us Shakespeare at his best.
__________
King Henry IV, Part I by William Shakespeare plays
from March 18 to September 6, 2014 at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre,
Stratford-upon-Avon, England. www.rsc.org.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment