Henry IV parts 1 and 2

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Plays
from 16 April 2005 to 31 August 2005

Olivier Theatre (National Theatre)
South Bank, London

"Nicholas Hytner’s superb new production. The ensemble acting is superb. The star roles could hardly be better played... The whole show is a rich a truthful delight" The Daily Telegraph

Two plays by William Shakespeare and directed by Nicholas Hytner. The cast for both parts includes features Michael Gambon as 'Falstaff' along with Matthew Macfadyen as 'Prince Hal', David Bradley as 'King Henry IV' and David Harewood as 'Hotspur'.

Henry IV pt I - King Henry faces rebellion from the very nobles who helped him seize the crown. Neither side bears scrutiny, but the insurgents boast the dazzling Hotspur while the sovereign’s son and heir gets smashed in the taverns of Eastcheap. At the Battle of Shrewsbury, Sir John Falstaff feigns valour, anticipates reward, and dreams gladly of merry England after Henry’s death, when Prince Hal will be King.

Henry IV pt II - The Prince’s riotous life is interrupted, as a second insurrection is deftly if ignobly crushed. This victory of a sort hastens Henry to his deathbed, causing Hal to reflect on his imminent sovereignty. Meanwhile Falstaff returns to London, impatient to greet his old drinking companion, the new King of England.

"Hytner’s stylish, visually pleasing production is on top form" The Sunday Telegraph

"The sweep of these twin productions is strongly charted but, at this early stage in the run, some details need honing... Nevertheless, the whole thing will mature well... As for Gambon, though it's not perhaps the performance of a lifetime, he is the most lovable and vulnerable Falstaff I've ever seen. He is enjoying himself immensely with his enormous belly, drunkenly slurring and shambling around in slippers and crimson pantaloons. He is shamelessly conniving and selfish - shoveling everybody's meals onto his plate - yet exquisitely tender in his scene with the young whore, Eve Myles' Tearsheet." The Independent on Sunday

"Nicholas Hytner’s production of our great national epic is as socially detailed and emotionally moving as one had hoped" The Guardian

"It is one of the production's achievements to show that it's not just the crown, but character, that passes down the generations... Gambon, of course, was made to play Falstaff... It's not yet a full performance; too many words get lost in a muffle of beard and dewlap. But, often addressing the audience directly, Gambon makes Falstaff seem more than one figure: he becomes the first of the unreliable narrators, a dodgy Chorus, a variation of Shakespeare himself... Despite the dynastic significance of the plays, individual portraits are the most memorable." The Observer

"Nick Hytner’s excellent production. The Henry IV plays are a great national epic and you could say that the Olivier is their rightful home. Highly recommended" The Independent

"It is not just the stellar casting that catches the eye and the heart: here, the pages of history are brought to glorious life, as vivid in the epic sweep of politics as in the subtlety of close relationships. After his antiwar Henry V, Hytner allows Henry IV space to breathe — no television-age gimmickry, no clunky references to the war in Iraq, just Shakespeare spoken by a superb cast and viewed with a hugely intelligent eye for detail... Part I would be impressive enough on its own, depicting an England divided by a rebellion led by the tetchy, self-righteous Hotspur... Yet while Part I is compelling, deftly leaping from the larky, menace-tinged tavern scenes to the clatter and rush of battle, it is Part II that is most remarkable — the place where all the shifting loyalties drawn in Part I hit crisis point, reaching the kind of intensity that seems to burn up all the oxygen in the theatre." The Sunday Times