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O, I could wish this tavern were my drum!
Aug. 30th, 2010 06:44 pmI saw some absolutely lovely Shakespeare yesterday at the Globe: Henry IV parts I and II.
Part of what I love about the Henry IV plays is that they're all about relationships: primarily, of course, Prince Hal's with his father and Falstaff, but also the Percys, the Glendower-Mortimers and the "family" of rogues and reprobates who surround Falstaff and Quickly. Even Shallow and Silence, brief as their stage-time is, are first-class bros.
In this production, all the relationships are absolutely believable. That's rare: in many productions the Henry IV-Hal-Falstaff triangle reduces everyone else to mere satellites. But in this show-- holy hell, the Percys! This is the first Henry IV I've seen in which the Percys (Sam Crane and Lorna Stuart) were believable as a couple. Hallelujah, they manage to make Lady Percy not annoying! Her wild, rough, sexy relationship with Hotspur makes perfect sense. It makes the scene with Glendower and the Mortimers (another relationship beautifully expressed in a mere moment of stage-time) amazing and beautiful and painful and poignant.
( Further reviewage hereunder )
Meanwhile, my hometown gets to experience Shakespeare's Hamlet in the original Klingon. The director tells us: "He whines, he vacillates, he sacrifices his Klingon heritage... 'Hamlet' is seditious, because it sends the wrong message to the Klingon youth."
Part of what I love about the Henry IV plays is that they're all about relationships: primarily, of course, Prince Hal's with his father and Falstaff, but also the Percys, the Glendower-Mortimers and the "family" of rogues and reprobates who surround Falstaff and Quickly. Even Shallow and Silence, brief as their stage-time is, are first-class bros.
In this production, all the relationships are absolutely believable. That's rare: in many productions the Henry IV-Hal-Falstaff triangle reduces everyone else to mere satellites. But in this show-- holy hell, the Percys! This is the first Henry IV I've seen in which the Percys (Sam Crane and Lorna Stuart) were believable as a couple. Hallelujah, they manage to make Lady Percy not annoying! Her wild, rough, sexy relationship with Hotspur makes perfect sense. It makes the scene with Glendower and the Mortimers (another relationship beautifully expressed in a mere moment of stage-time) amazing and beautiful and painful and poignant.
( Further reviewage hereunder )
Meanwhile, my hometown gets to experience Shakespeare's Hamlet in the original Klingon. The director tells us: "He whines, he vacillates, he sacrifices his Klingon heritage... 'Hamlet' is seditious, because it sends the wrong message to the Klingon youth."