Image: First Night edition, not an official production poster · Art: Robert Thew after Robert Smirke, Falstaff, Prince Henry and Poins at the Boar's Head Tavern (Shakespeare, King Henry the Fourth, Part 1, Act 2, Scene 4), 1796 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 1.0 · metmuseum.org
Play
Player Kings
An anxious king who took his crown from another man watches his heir drink and thieve in a London tavern alongside a cowardly, quick-witted knight.
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The story
Robert Icke's adaptation condenses Shakespeare's Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 into a single play. Henry IV, who took the throne from Richard II, is ailing and estranged from his son Hal, who runs with Sir John Falstaff's crowd in Eastcheap. Meanwhile the Percy family, who helped Henry to power, turn against him, with the northern soldier Hotspur at the head of the rebellion.
In the room
The action moves between three worlds, the court, the rebel nobles of the North and Falstaff's tavern circle, which touch only indirectly at first, setting tavern comedy against history-play politics as the story builds towards battle.
Good fit if you like
Shakespeare's history plays, father-and-son conflict and comedy set against political crisis.
Details
- From 1 Apr 2024
Running time not recorded.
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Cast & crew
No cast or crew recorded yet.