Preparatory workpack TheTravelex £10Season y lVd1wf8hd6ovssje.cloudfront.net/documents/henry_iv.pdfemerged the victor, causing the anxious monarch to reflect on how different this

Henry IV Parts 1 and 2By William Shakespeare

DirectorNicholas Hytner

Further production detailswww.nationaltheatre.org.uk

Workpack co-written byPeter Reynolds, Creative Director ofwww.stagework.org.uk with contributions fromSamantha Potter, Staff Director on this production

EditorEmma Thirlwell

DesignPatrick Eley, Lisa Johnson

NT EducationNational TheatreSouth BankLondon SE1 9PX

T 020 7452 3388F 020 7452 3380E [email protected]

Workpack© Peter Reynolds and Samantha PotterThe views expressed in thisworkpack are not necessarilythose of the National Theatre

Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 Preparatory workpack

Contents

A Dramatic Commentary 2Shakespeare’s History Plays 14Teaching Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 15Preparing the National’s productions 20

Education

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HENRY IV PART 1

Act 1 scene 1KING HENRY IV and his closest associatesacknowledge the deeply troubled nature of thetimes. Henry speaks of the recent armedconflict that has left them all feeling physicallyand emotionally exhausted. He wants to unitethe country under the banner of a crusade; atactic that he hopes will focus attention awayfrom troubles at home and onto foreigners,“these pagans in those holy fields”, and so serveto unite a disunited people. He also wants thecrusade to atone for his own deep sense of guiltat being responsible for the deposition of theprevious, supposedly divinely appointed,English King, Richard II. But Henry’s plan isstillborn because of continuing instability andthe imminent threat to his kingdom posed by“the irregular and wild Glendower.” The marginsof Henry’s nation are far from being united withit. GLENDOWER is Welsh, but there is alsotrouble brewing in the North where fighting isreported between forces led by the young and“gallant” HOTSPUR, son of the powerful Earl ofNorthumberland, and the young and “valiant”Scot, DOUGLAS, who commands some tenthousand men. The King hears that Hotspur hasemerged the victor, causing the anxiousmonarch to reflect on how different this youngman is in every way compared to his own sonand heir, HARRY, Prince of Wales: “riot anddishonour stain the brow/Of my young Harry.”Hotspur too is rebellious as with mostadolescent young men, but in a very differentway: he has refused to hand over his prisonersto the King (bar one), as convention dictates hemust. WESTMORLAND, one of the King’sclosest counsellors, claims this is due to themalign influence of an older man, Hotspur’suncle, WORCESTER.

Act 1 scene 2The action moves from the high politics of thecourt to a very different world in which we arepresented with an older man in the company ofa younger: FALSTAFF and Henry IV’s son, Harry.

Their manner and their talk reveal an intimacyand informality entirely lacking from thebehaviour of the men in the opening scene and,in contrast to news of a kingdom at war withitself, we now meet a man at odds with himself:Falstaff, according to his young companion,doesn’t even know what time of day it is. Theirtalk justifies Henry’s fears for his son’s moralwellbeing not least because Falstaff states thatthey are both criminals: “we that take purses”,and the Prince’s subsequent question toFalstaff, “where shall we take a purse tomorrowJack?” One of their drinking companions, NEDPOINS, plots to rob wealthy travellers, “pilgrimsgoing to Canterbury”, and “traders riding toLondon”, but the Prince says, “I’ll tarry athome”, leaving a question mark over hisprevious apparent willingness to act as a thief.After Falstaff has left, Poins explains that hereally intends an elaborate practical joke atFalstaff’s expense, a plot involving a robberythat will lead to the exposure of Falstaff as botha coward and a supreme liar.

At the end of the scene the Prince is left alone.The audience have seen and heard hisbehaviour and witnessed the company hekeeps and must, like his father, be inclined tosee it as evidence of juvenile delinquency, anadolescent male at risk because of a veryunder-developed sense of personalresponsibility. But as if to counter theseunvoiced assumptions about him, the Princeaddresses the audience and claims that whatthey have seen is only a form of play-acting. Heplays a role in a company of unsavourycharacters, so that when the time comes for himto assume a very public role as Prince andeventually as King, he will change and shine allthe brighter in public opinion: “…like brightmetal on a sullen ground,/My reformation,glittering o’er my fault,/Shall show more goodly,and attract more eyes/Than that which hath nofoil to set it off.”

Act 1 scene 3 The action switches back to the court and we

A Dramatic Commentary


are introduced to another high-born adolescentyoung man, HENRY PERCY, known as Hotspur,the son of the Earl of Northumberland. Unlikethe King’s eldest son, this young man is held in high esteem by his father, and indeed by the King himself. But Hotspur and Prince Harryhave similarities, for both are rebelling, albeit in different ways, against authority. The Princeassociates with the ‘wrong’ sort, in veryinappropriate places. Hotspur is impetuousenough to rebel against the lawful authority of the King himself and has played a leadingrole in an armed insurrection that threatens to embroil the whole country in civil war. Hisfrustration with the King is evident in this sceneand is shared by his father who, we learn, was instrumental in helping the then HenryBolingbroke take power and ultimately thecrown from the entirely legitimate grasp of theformer king, Richard II. According to the Percyfamily, Henry failed to return the favour, whichcontinues to rankle with them. Hotspur refusesto hand over the prisoners that he has taken,which is both a symbolic snub to the King’sauthority as well as a blow to the monarch’sexchequer: the only prisoners worth taking were those who could command a ransom.Before he leaves, Henry IV makes the return ofthe prisoners an issue of principle and demandstheir return.

The rebellious lords explain to Hotspur (whobecomes too incensed with his own outrage toactually listen) that they will now press aheadwith their plans for an armed rebellion, in effectcivil war, aimed at toppling the King.

Act 2 scenes 1-2Having watched and listened at some length in the previous scene to Hotspur’s conspicuousdisplay of the traditional attributes associatedwith masculine prowess: bravery, decisiveness,assertiveness, and heard his open disdain foranything he regards as remotely “effeminate”,(cautious), Shakespeare now offers awonderfully telling contrast. We witness a verydifferent performance by very different types ofmen. Their action parodies the heroic masculinerhetoric, the fighting talk so beloved of Hotspur.There is an actual armed engagement (Falstaffleads a robbery of unarmed travellers at

Gadshill), but what the incident displays is aworld away from the kind of action Hotspurwould seek out. The trickery of the Prince andPoins, and the cowardice of Falstaff and hiscompanions, transform it into a farce. Afterrobbing and binding the travellers, a processaccompanied by Falstaff’s approximation offighting talk, “Ah, whoreson caterpillars, bacon-fed knaves!”, the successful action isoverturned with consummate ease by achallenge to the robbers from the Prince andPoins that scatters them: “The thieves are allscattered, and possessed with fear/So stronglythat they dare not meet each other.”

Act 2 scene 3Hotspur enters reading a letter from someonewho thinks that the strategy behind the rebellion is ill-considered. Instead of heedingwhat the writer actually says, Hotspur, intypically impatient fashion, becomes firstexasperated and then outraged at the author’stemerity in expressing any doubts whatsoever.He labels caution as weakness, and with acharacteristically sexist insult, “I could brain himwith his lady’s fan”, ignores what the letter isclearly signalling. Ironically, his lady (his wife),LADY PERCY, then appears, and through hereyes we are able to see a very different side ofthis roaring boy, a boy who cannot sleep atnight because he dreams of battle: “Thy spiritwithin thee hath been so at war,/And thus hathso bestirred thee in thy sleep,/That beads ofsweat hath stood upon thy brow/Like bubbles ina late-disturbèd stream…” These night sweatssignal anxiety beneath the tough exterior anddisplay another side of Hotspur. Shakespearegives us the private as well as the public man,and shows that, for all his aggressivemasculinity, the young Hotspur is also capableof playfulness and gentleness, qualities thatprevent him from being one-dimensional.

Act 2 scene 4From the bedroom to the tap room, we followthe other adolescent boy’s progress in a tavernscene full of indulgence and humour. The Princeboasts of drinking in the company not of thenobility, but of very ordinary men, “Tom, Dick,and Francis”. He acknowledges that others(including his father) have compared him

Directing and rehearsing


unfavourably with Northumberland’s son, but mocks Hotspur in a way that shows heunderstands his rival and knows hisweaknesses: “I am not yet of Percy’s mind, theHotspur of the north, he that kills me some six orseven dozen of Scots at a breakfast, washes hishands, and says to his wife, ‘Fie upon this quietlife, I want work’. ‘O my sweet Harry’, says she,‘how many hast thou killed today?’ ‘Give myroan horse a drench’, says he, and answers,‘Some fourteen’, an hour after, ‘a trifle, a trifle’”.

The relationship of the young prince and thehumorous if dissolute Jack Falstaff has oftenbeen compared to that of a father and son. Afterall, there is little evidence at the start of the playthat the King loves his son; he rather despairs ofhim, whereas Falstaff obviously does love Haland never ceases to indulge him. In this scenethe two of them play a game in which they actout the father-son relationship first with Falstaffplaying the King. He admonishes Hal for lettingdown not only his father, but himself and asksthe question that doubtless troubles the mind ofthe real King who is more aware than most ofthe importance of preserving the public face ofthe monarchy: “…why, being son to me, art thouso pointed at?” Falstaff knows all too well thetrouble his relationship with the heir apparenthas caused, and as part of his performance

plays a neat reversal of the King’s actual opinionof him: “…there is virtue in that Falstaff. Himkeep with, the rest banish.” This prompts Hal toreverse roles and now when he addressesFalstaff it is only partly in jest, for his father’svoice is in what he says, “there is a devil hauntsthee”, and what he means is inflected by hisfather’s vision of Falstaff as a corruptinginfluence, a vision that ultimately he will come toshare. Falstaff: “…banish not him thy Harry’scompany. Banish plump Jack, and banish all theworld.” Prince: “I do, I will.”

The scene ends with the Prince alone,acknowledging to himself and the audience thatthe time for play-acting has ended, at least fornow, and “we must all to the wars”.

Act 3 scene 1The scene begins with a confrontation betweentwo men, Glendower and Hotspur, given toexaggeration and seemingly stuffed so full ofwords that they pour out un-checked. TheWelshman, although an ally, is mockedsavagely by Hotspur, and the two fall into afierce argument about the future ownership ofterritory yet to be taken in battle. Worcester andMORTIMER (Glendower’s son-in-law) urgerestraint on both men. Indeed, just as in theformer scene an older man (Falstaff) anatomisesthe faults of a younger (Prince Harry), so too inthis, Worcester lays bare Hotspur’s wilfulness.Hotspur takes it in good part and the sceneends with the wives of Hotspur and Mortimerchanging the mood and adding a domestic andlyrical dimension that once again balances theaggressive male behaviour.

Act 3 scene 2The King and his son finally meet in the play andit is an uncomfortable experience for both ofthem. The King is under considerable pressureas a result of the rebellion; it is a time in whichhe most needs the support of those closest tohim, not least his eldest son. The King’s keensense of disappointment in Hal fuels his angeras he castigates him, comparing himunfavourably with Hotspur, the “infant warrior”.

Directing and rehearsing

Matthew Macfadyen (Prince Harry)and Michael Gambon (Falstaff),

in rehearsalphoto Catherine Ashmore


The father offers the son a lesson in how thepublic role of a future King is to be performed.Henry IV understands that the power of themonarchy lies partly in its continuing mystique;the things that set it apart from the ordinarylives of ordinary people need to be protected. Inorder to preserve his special status and the aurasurrounding it, Hal must maintain theimpression that his birth has set him apart fromthe people. He should be alive to public opinion,and see himself as others see him. His fatherwas able to obtain the most powerful position inthe land because “Opinion” helped him to thecrown. In contrast to Richard II, “the skippingKing” surrounded by “shallow jesters, and rashbavin [wood that flames quickly and then burnsout] wits”, the then Henry Bolingbroke ensuredthat he was seen only sparingly, dressedhumbly, and always acting modestly, neverassociating himself in any way with commonpeople. “Thus did I keep my person fresh andnew/My presence, like a robe pontifical,/Ne’erseen but wondered at, and so mystate,/Seldom, but sumptuous, showed like afeast,/And won by rareness such solemnity.”

Of course this is the opposite of what Hal hasbeen doing. His association with Falstaff andothers and their publicly inappropriatebehaviour (for a Prince), which includesdrinking, debauchery and defiance of the law,pollutes his status and renders him ordinary. Hispower is made vulnerable because he may notbe able to rely on the respect of the public whenhe needs it most. As his father says, “As thouart to this hour was Richard then…And even as Iwas then is Percy now”. In others wordsHotspur’s standing in public opinion is higherthan that of Hal and, if nothing changes, it willbe Hotspur who will in future wear the crown.

Stung by his father’s words, the Princeeloquently promises to redeem himself byconfronting Hotspur in combat and “make thisnorthern youth exchange/His glorious deeds formy indignities”. The King appears persuaded ofhis son’s sincerity and they leave together toconfront the rebellion.

Act 3 scene 3We return with a jolt to the tavern to witness

another angry exchange, this time betweenFalstaff and BARDOLPH. Falstaff complainswith sweeping irony that he too is out of sortsdespite having, like a gentleman, “swore little.Diced not above seven times a week. Went to abawdy house not above once in a quarter - of anhour…” Falstaff also uses the occasion to makemuch of Bardolph’s red nose. “I never see thyface but I think upon hell-fire… thou art aperpetual triumph, an everlasting bonfire-light!”

Amusing as this is, the humour is cut through bythe intervention of the Hostess of the tavern,MISTRESS QUICKLY. Her story shows adistinctly unsavoury side to Falstaff’s character,his willingness to ruthlessly exploit the goodnature of others. The Hostess has bought him“a dozen of shirts”, and has lent him money.Added to his bill at the Inn, he owes aconsiderable sum of “four and twenty pound”.The Prince hears Falstaff falsely claim thatwhilst he was asleep in the tavern his pocketwas picked and he lost “three or four bonds offorty pound apiece, and a seal-ring of mygrandfather’s”. Despite this obvious lie, thePrince tells his friend that he has himself repaidthe money stolen in the robbery at Gadshill andhas made men and money available to Falstaffso that he may command in the coming civilwar. The Prince is full not only of generositytowards his friend, but also of high-soundingrhetoric. For a minute he sounds more likeHotspur than himself: “The land is burning,Percy stands on high,/And either we or theymust lower lie”. Falstaff, however, is groundedin a very different kind of reality: “Rare words!Brave words! Hostess, my breakfast, come! O, Icould wish this tavern were my drum.”

Act 4 scene 1We now meet the young rebels, Hotspur, andthe Scot, the Earl of Douglas. Despite theiroutward show of confidence, both areundermined by the relentless stream of badnews about the ever-decreasing number of theirallies. First Hotspur’s father, Northumberland,“cannot come…he is grievous sick” and thenWorcester and his forces are delayed by“fourteen days” and the Welsh rebel Glendoweris also unavailable, leaving Hotspur and

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Douglas well outnumbered. At the same timethere is also daunting news of the forces thatface them. SIR RICHARD VERNON describesthe King’s army as “furnished, all in arms,/Allplumed like estridges that with the wind/Bated,like eagles having lately bathed,/Glittering ingolden coats like images,/As full of spirit as themonth of May,/And gorgeous as the sun atmidsummer.” He goes on to describe thebehaviour of Hotspur’s rival Prince Harry. Inwhat sounds like an outrageously theatricalpiece of propaganda befitting a legendary herorather than a bar-room malingerer, Hal hasmounted his horse in spectacular style: “I sawyoung Harry with his beaver [helmet] on,/Hiscuishes [thigh protection] on his thighs, gallantlyarmed,/Rise from the ground like featheredMercury,/And vaulted with such ease into hisseat/As if an angel dropped down from theclouds/To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus,/Andwitch the world with noble horsemanship.”

Act 4 scene 2From hearing about the elite in their “glitteringgolden coats” and observing the youngswashbuckling gallants Hotspur and Douglas,we turn to a more mundane scene. Falstaff hascompelled his troop, composed of the wretchedof the earth, to follow him into battle and hazardthe only thing they have remaining of any value:their lives. The Prince enters, presumably stilldressed to impress, in his armour and battle-ready, and asks Falstaff, “whose fellows are

those that come after? … I never did see suchpitiful rascals”. The answer is that these areordinary men, dirt poor perhaps, but peoplewith feelings, families, and friends. To Falstaffthey appear to be worthless. Like a first worldwar general he has no regard for their safety ortheir lives, dismissing them as “food for powder,they’ll fill a pit as well as better…”.

Act 4 scene 3The rebels argue about whether, given the newsof their depleted forces, they should delay theconfrontation with the King. Needless to say,Hotspur, always ready to live up to hisnickname, and Douglas press for an immediateencounter but the older men, Worcester andVernon, urge caution. Vernon (who wasimpressed by the show of strength by the King’sarmy) says that they are militarily unreadybecause some of the promised troops have yetto arrive and others, recently arrived, are notprepared for battle. Worcester also reminds thehot-headed youths that they are outnumbered.SIR WALTER BLUNT arrives with “graciousoffers from the King” who asks the rebels to“name your griefs, and with all speed/You shallhave your desires with interest/And pardonabsolute for yourself…”

Hotspur responds with an interesting, if one-sided, history lesson. He reminds Blunt howHenry IV actually came to power: “…when hewas not six and twenty strong/Sick in theworld’s regard, wretched and low,/A poorunminded outlaw sneaking home, [he had beenbanished by Richard II]/My father gave himwelcome to the shore.” Hotspur argues thatwere it not for the help of his father,Northumberland, the banished Bolingbroke,now resplendent as Henry IV, would haveremained forever on the margins of power:“When the lords and barons of therealm/Perceived Northumberland did lean tohim,/The more and less came in with cap andknee,/Met him in boroughs, cities,villages,/Attended him on bridges, followedhim/Even at the heels in golden multitudes…”Hotspur attributes the mass growth inBolingbroke’s popularity and power toNorthumberland’s endorsement of his claim tothe title of Duke of Lancaster. It gave

David Harewood (Hotspur) in rehearsal

photo: Catherine Ashmore

The play



Bolingbroke renewed confidence and anambition ascending beyond the title, despitepromising Northumberland he would limit hisambitions. He went much further, having theclosest confidants of King Richard executedwhilst the King was fighting rebels in Ireland,and on his return he “deposed the King,/Soonafter that deprived him of his life.” Once he hadbecome King Henry IV, he turned against thehands that fed him, including Hotspur’s father,who he “In rage dismissed… from thecourt,/Broke oath on oath, committed wrong onwrong”. These wrongs, articulated byNorthumberland’s son and echoing the storytold by his father, were the cause of the currentrebellion.

During this shocking series of allegations, Bluntremains silent. Now he asks simply, “Shall Ireturn this answer to the King?” Hotspur playsfor time, “…in the morning early shall mineuncle/Bring him our purposes…”

Act 4 scene 4Two of the rebels anticipate the coming battle at Shrewsbury. The Archbishop is fearful ofHotspur’s chances against the King’s moreaugmented forces, and knows that if the rebels are defeated it will not be long beforeothers, including himself, are forced into aconfrontation with the monarch.

Act 5 scene 1

The King and his followers are preparing for thestruggle when one of the rebels, Worcester,appears. The King immediately upbraids him forthe blatant betrayal of trust which has leddirectly to this potentially deadly encounter. ButWorcester doesn’t take the King’s reprimandwithout counter-claiming on behalf of therebels. He repeats back to him the list ofallegations made by Hotspur in the previousscene, claiming again that it was Henry whobroke the oath he made at Doncaster whichpromised to limit his ambition to being Duke ofLancaster. Worcester uses words like weapons,hurling insults at his former friend like handgrenades: “unkind usage, dangerouscountenance,/And violation of all faith andtroth.”

The King attempts to brush aside the claims,but then comes an extraordinary interventionfrom Prince Harry, who acknowledges that, asan outcome of this quarrel, many men willsuffer. He suggests that instead of two armiesslugging it out he will challenge Hotspur tosingle combat and thus “save the blood oneither side”. This gesture is, consciously or not,part of young Harry’s rehabilitation from villainto national hero: he will spare the nationsuffering by acting as a Knight of old. The Kingaccepts his son’s offer and adds to it an offer ofhis own: “…will they [the rebels] take the offer ofour grace,/Both he, and they, and you, yea,every man/Shall be my friend again, and I’ll behis…”

Harry thinks his offer “will not be accepted” andthe King and his company exit to prepare tofight. The Prince is left alone on stage, aloneexcept for Falstaff. The fat knight has beenpresent throughout this scene, the first time hehas shared the stage with the man who sodisapproves of his association with his son.Falstaff said nothing, but his presence is aneloquent reminder of both what the Prince hasbeen in the past, and of the underworld in whichhe played his part so robustly. Hal leaves, andFalstaff, fearful for his life, contemplates aloudthe real meaning behind the heroic rhetoric thatinvariably surrounds the bloody chaos andcruelty of hand to hand combat. He asks arhetorical question: “What is honour?” and

Jeffery Kissoon (Henry Percy, Earl of

Northumberland), in rehearsal


The play



answers himself that it is merely “a word”.Falstaff thinks of the coming fight not as anopportunity to display individual heroism andhonourable behaviour, but sees an alternativereality in which abstract ideas such as honourare powerless to heal wounds, or relieve thesuffering of the wounded.

Act 5 scene 2Worcester refuses to tell Hotspur of the King’soffer to address their grievances because hedoesn’t trust the King to keep his word. He saysthat he and Vernon and their friends will in anyevent eventually be charged with offences, notleast because they will be accused ofmisleading the young Hotspur: the “hair-brainedHotspur, governed by a spleen./All his offenceslive upon my head/And on his father’s. We didtrain him on,/And, his corruption being takenfrom us,/We as the spring of all shall pay for all.”

Act 5 scene 3In the chaos and confusion of battle, Douglaskills Sir Walter Blunt who had, in a strategydesigned to help protect the monarch, withseveral others, disguised himself as the realKing: “The King hath many marching in hiscoats”. As the frustrated Douglas and Hotspurleave for another part of the battle field to seekout the King, the grotesque figure of Falstafflooms into view. His presence again pricks thebubble of glamour surrounding the fighting andreminds the audience of the fate not just ofnobles like Blunt, but also of the hundreds ofordinary men who understand nothing of thequarrel that led to this battle. Falstaff speaks ofleading his “ragamuffins” into a valley of death“where they are peppered. There’s not three ofmy hundred-and-fifty left alive.”

The Prince of Wales encounters Falstaff andasks him for his sword. Instead, Falstaff offershis pistol, which turns out to be a bottle of beer,which the furious Prince throws back inFalstaff’s face. Falstaff has failed his youngpupil at a time when his help was most needed.It is another nail in the coffin of their relationship.

Act 5 scene 4The King is finally confronted on the battlefieldby the young Scot, Douglas. Just as it seemsthat the younger man will slaughter the older,

the Prince of Wales realises it is his moment forheroic action and a chance to redeem himself inhis father’s eyes. He confronts Douglas who,after a brief encounter, runs away instead ofstaying to fight to the death. Hotspur emergesand the two young aristocrats, similar in somany ways, face each other: “Two stars keepnot their motion in one sphere,/Nor can oneEngland brook a double reign/Of Harry Percyand the Prince of Wales.” As the two menembrace in the deadly dance of combat theyare overlooked: Falstaff watches the struggle.The voyeur is then himself the subject ofunwelcome attention because Douglas seesand fights with him, and Falstaff, using the lastpossible trick he can play in this situation, fallsdown and pretends to be dead. As he playsdead, a real death is enacted elsewhere on thesame stage: Prince Hal overcomes Hotspurwho lies defeated at his feet.

As the victorious young man stands over thebody of his adversary and pays him a generoustribute, he sees the ‘dead’ body of his old friendand mentor, Falstaff. Not for the first time theyoung prince is deceived by him. As he surveysthe corpse, he resolves to have the bodypreserved, a process that will necessitate theremoval of Falstaff’s most distinguishingfeature, his not inconsiderable intestines.

As the Prince leaves the field a hero in waiting,Falstaff is left to play his own part out, of which,as he so memorably remarks, “the better part ofvalour is discretion.” He hatches a crude butultimately effective plot to bring glory on himselfby claiming to the world that it was he that killedHotspur. In a peculiarly chilling act after the heat of the single combat, he takes his knife,pushes the blade into the thigh of the deadHotspur and then lifts the body with difficultyand carries it away. With the dead youth on hisback he encounters the living Princes, Harryand his brother John. Falstaff claims it was hewho killed Hotspur since the Prince had merelyleft him temporarily unconscious. The story isas bizarre as its author, but instead ofchallenging him, the Prince, perhaps becausehe is moved to see his old companion still alive,does not challenge his story: “For my part, if alie may do thee grace,/I’ll gild it with the

The play



happiest terms I have.” As a consequence, thehero of the encounter, the vanquisher of theKing’s prime enemy and the killer of the Princeof Wales’s most serious rival, is now believed tobe none other than Sir John Falstaff.

Act 5 scene 5The play ends with the victorious King showingno mercy to his enemies, Worcester andVernon. The King reminds all that the civil war isnot over and he must now divide his forces,some to confront Northumberland and Scroopin the north, others to take on Glendower andthe Earl of March in the west. We are backwhere the play began; a nation divided, but withone crucial difference: the father of the nation,Henry IV, is reunited with his adolescent son,Henry, Prince of Wales.

HENRY IV PART 2

Act 1 scene 1“The times are wild”.In this brilliant opening scene a rumour rapidlyreaches the Duke of Northumberland that theforces led by his son Harry, known as Hotspur,have triumphed over those of King Henry IV atthe battle of Shrewsbury. But no sooner has thegood news been digested than TRAVERSbrings unwelcome news that the “rebellion hadill luck”. The negative feelings are confirmed bythe arrival of MORTON, a man present on thebattlefield, and who claims to have actuallywitnessed the killing of Harry Percy by PrinceHarry. Once Hotspur was down, recountsMorton, the fate of his forces was inevitable.

The news is both a personal and political blowfor Northumberland who responds to it withintense grief and also anger. Morton urges himto remember that his followers are nowdepending on him and not to lose himself ingrief. In a brave speech he reminds the Earl thathis son’s nature, for which his father must ownsome responsibility, was always going toinvolve him in personal risk.

Morton’s courage succeeds in re-focusingNorthumberland’s attention onto the still as yetinconclusive outcome of the rebellion againstthe King. And he tells the Earl that he may havelost his son and ally, but he has gained anotherpowerful friend in the shape of “the gentleArchbishop of York”. This ‘gentle’ prelate isgood news all round not least because, as theeager Morton explains, he can lend theauthority of God Almighty to aid their campaign:“…the Bishop/Turns insurrection to religion;/Supposed sincere and holy in his thoughts,/He’s followed both with body and with mind.”

Act 1 scene 2Falstaff, described in the previous scene as “thehulk”, enters with his diminutive page following,a visual humour being effected by the contrastin their sizes. The Lord Chief Justice is hot onFalstaff’s heels since he failed to respond to asummons issued after the robbery at Gadshill(an event dramatised in Henry IV Part 1). Falstaffhas no intention of co-operating with the chieflaw officer of the nation and uses his new (and

The play



entirely ill-founded) reputation as a war hero toavoid answering the charges against him. He isultimately ‘let off the hook’ by being called tojoin the forces of Prince John, Hal’s brother, in acampaign against the Archbishop of York andthe Earl of Northumberland.

Act 1 scene 3A key group of the rebels consider their positionand the hopes they have for a successfulmilitary outcome. They have 25,000 men (noneof Northumberland’s forces have yet arrived).But is it enough? Lord Bardolph urges cautionafter the rashness of Hotspur, going into battlewith the King’s forces grossly unprepared. He“lined himself with hope,/Eating the air andpromise of supply,/Flattering himself in projectof a power/Much smaller than the smallest of his thoughts,/And so, with great imagination/Proper to madmen, led his powers todeath,/And winking leaped into destruction.”

Despite this sobering reminder of theconsequences of an ill-considered action thatcost not just the life of its leader, but those ofmany hundreds of others, the Archbishop, that“gentle” man, urges them to action believingthat the common people are tired of the reign ofHenry IV and will rise in support of the rebellion.

Act 2 scene 1Yet another lawsuit is entered against Falstaffby a pub landlady, Mistress Quickly of the Boar’sHead tavern in Eastcheap, to whom he owesmoney. Falstaff is arrested and ordered to payby his old adversary, the Lord Chief Justice. ButFalstaff’s greatest weapon has always beenwords and he uses his wit to persuade Quickly

to lend him even more money. The Lord ChiefJustice, likely bemused by Quickly’s turnabout,urges Falstaff to leave London, recruit soldiers,and march north to join the forces of the King.

Act 2 scene 2The Prince of Wales, the still unacknowledgedvictor over Hotspur, confesses to POINSfeelings of unease with his life and his sadnessat the news of his father’s illness “I tell thee, myheart bleeds inwardly that my father is sosick…” He cannot make his feelings public, norwear his heart on his sleeve, having in the pastkept “such vile company” (with Falstaff). If hewere to show his true feelings about his father,“every man would think me an hypocrite.”

A letter is received from Falstaff which turns outto be far from flattering to Poins. It irritates bothmen and they decide to take revenge on Falstaffby disguising themselves as barmen in theBoar’s Head. There they will spy on Falstaff’sambition to achieve an amorous liaison with thenotorious prostitute, Doll Tearsheet.

Act 2 scene 3This is one of the few occasions in either playwhere women are given a voice.Northumberland’s wife and his daughter-in-law,the widow of Hotspur, persuade the Earl againstimmediately joining with the rebels. He listensespecially to his late son’s wife who counselshim to wait until the Archbishop and his forces“get ground and vantage of the King,/Then joinyou with them like a rib of steel,/To makestrength stronger; but, for all our loves,/First letthem try themselves.” He decides to wait inScotland to see how the rebellion progresses.

Act 2 scene 4A wildly comic and anarchic scene set in theBoar’s Head in which two of the pub’scustomers, both drunk, fall into a quarrel. DOLLTEARSHEET levels a stream of insults in Pistol’sdirection: Pistol has something of the reputationof a being a hooligan and a thug, but is called‘Captain’, to Doll’s astonishment and outrage:“You a captain? You slave! For what? Fortearing a poor whore’s ruff in a bawdy-house?He a captain! Hang him, rogue, he lives uponmouldy stewed prunes and dried cakes.”

The play


Naomi Frederick, (Lady Percy) in rehearsal



Falstaff ejects Pistol and is rewarded with Doll’sundivided attention but, just as he begins tosound off against the Prince, the latter andPoins drop their disguises and confront theastonished onlookers. Falstaff uses his verbalagility to save himself from yet another difficultsituation of his own making. Again, Falstaff’sentirely bogus claims to be a war hero rescuehim because he is summoned back to courtimmediately in order to join the preparations tofight the rebels in the north.

Act 3 scene 1The life and energy of the last scene drain awayat the start of Act 3 when we see, for the firsttime in this play, King Henry IV. We see him notin his public role as King, but as a vulnerableman, dressed in a nightgown, and followed onlyby a page. The King cannot sleep because hecarries a weight of cares: “Uneasy lies the headthat wears a crown.” His isolation contrasts withthe lively company and sense of companionshipenjoyed by his son Hal. The King elegantly andruefully compares his failure to find comfort insleep to that of very ordinary people, like theship boy lulled asleep by the wind. As people dowho wake in the night and cannot sleep, theKing’s thoughts exaggerate the scale of theproblems facing him: “They say the Bishop andNorthumberland/Are fifty thousand strong”.Warwick enters the chamber and tries toreassure his sovereign, “It cannot be, mylord./Rumour doth double, like the voice andecho,/The numbers of the feared.”

Act 3 scene 2Moving from a scene that focuses on a manweighed down by responsibility, the play turnsto old men looking back on their past withpleasure, recalling the “mad days” of theiryouth. Here, in the Gloucestershire countryside,Falstaff has arranged to recruit soldiers fromJUSTICE SHALLOW’s household to fight underhim in the King’s cause. Shallow and Falstaffwere students at Lincoln’s Inn some 55 yearspreviously. Falstaff surveys a selection of men,two of whom (MOULDY and BULLCALF) areable to buy themselves out of Falstaff’s service,leaving two unfortunate others, FEEBLE andWART, who are both entirely unsuited, as is theirnew master, to fighting. Although it is anamusing scene, the thought of Feeble and Wartled to almost certain death by Falstaff counter-balances the heroic rhetoric about war thatissues so freely from the mouths of the powerfulmen in this play.

Act 4 scene 1The rebels gather and learn what we alreadyknow: one of their principal backers, the Earl ofNorthumberland, has written a letter saying thathe has gone to Scotland and cannot, for thetime being, join the rebellion. This underminestheir position, as does the further news that theKing’s youngest son, Prince John, has an armyof thirty thousand men which is less than a mileaway. Westmorland comes from the Prince andattempts to convince the rebels that theirquarrel with the King isn’t sufficiently grave tomerit this armed rebellion and the inevitableloss of life. Prince John is prepared to hear theirgrievances and will respond generously to anydemands that he considers well-founded. Therebels decide to put their case in writing, butremain divided as to whether the King (or PrinceJohn) is to be trusted. Finally, Westmorlandreturns with the offer of talks to which, withsome trepidation, the rebels agree.

Act 4 scene 2We encounter Prince John for the first time. Hereceives the rebels and offers them a solemnbut ambiguous promise that their list ofgrievances “…shall be with speedredressed,/Upon my soul, they shall.” The

The play


Michael Gambon (Falstaff)in rehearsal



rebels’ response is to dismiss their armies, whoseize the chance to return to domestic life withalacrity: “Like youthful steers unyoked they taketheir courses/East, west, north, south; or like aschool broke up,/Each hurries toward his homeand sporting-place.” Shakespeare contraststhe enthusiasm to fight that characterisesleaders of men, with the joy that comes fromrelease from mortal danger back to the knownand familiar delights of home.

But the rebel leaders, unlike their men, are notgoing home: Prince John has them arrested. Hepromises indeed to address their grievances,but also charges them with treason and orderstheir execution.

Act 4 scene 3One of the rebels has escaped, only to have themisfortune of being taken prisoner by Falstaff.SIR JOHN COLEVILLE surrenders only becausehe has heard of Falstaff’s (mythical) fightingprowess. Falstaff presents his prize capture toPrince John who sends Coleville to his death.

Falstaff castigates Prince John to his back as ahumourless and unfeeling man who “drinks nowine”, before musing on the merits of alcohol asnecessary fuel for courage. Falstaff comparesthe two princely brothers, and judges Hal unlikehis younger brother, to be “valiant; for the coldblood he did naturally inherit of his father hehath like lean, sterile, and bare land manured,husbanded, and tilled, with excellent endeavourof drinking good and good store of fertilesherris, that he is become very hot and valiant.”

Act 4 scene 4Two more of the King’s sons, THOMAS andHUMPHREY, are with their father who is nowgravely ill. His discomfort is exacerbated by thenews that his heir apparent, the son who savedhis life at the battle of Shrewsbury, hasapparently reverted to his old ways with his oldcompanions. Warwick tries to convince theKing that Hal’s behaviour is a necessary stagein his education in the world; as a future King hemust know all his people. Westmorland bringsgood news that Prince John has successfullyput down the rebellion in the north and thatNorthumberland is dead. The King faints.

Act 4 scene 5The King is taken to an adjoining room to sleep,the crown beside his head on a pillow. As he liessick and vulnerable, Hal enters and is left alonewith his father, whose breathing is so shallowand his body so lifeless that Hal believes hemust have died. He is actually asleep (which isironic, given that the last time we saw him hecould not sleep) but Hal, not realising, takes thecrown, places it on his own head and leaves theroom. The King wakes, sees that the crown hasgone and assumes that Hal, greedy for power,has taken it prematurely.

When Hal returns with the crown, the ailing Kinglaunches a fierce attack on him, imagining whatwill happen to the country once his son becomesKing. It is the sum of his worst fears, and carrieswith it the frustrated rage from the many nightshe lay awake fretting about his eldest boy:

Harry the Fifth is crowned! Up vanity!Down, royal state! All you sage counsellors, hence!And to the English court assemble now,From every region, apes of idleness!Now, neighbour confines, purge you of your scum!Have you a ruffian that will swear, drink, dance,Revel the night, rob, murder, and commitThe oldest sins the newest kind of ways?Be happy, he will trouble you no more.England shall double gild his treble guilt;England shall give him office, honour, might;For the fifth Harry from curbed licence plucksThe muzzle of restraint, and the wild dogShall flesh his tooth on every innocent.O my poor kingdom, sick with civil blows!When that my care could not withhold thy riots,What wilt thou do when riot is thy care?O, thou wilt be a wilderness again,Peopled with wolves, thy old inhabitants!

Despite this outpouring against Hal’s obduraterefusal to conform to his father’s expectations,the King and his son are soon reconciled. Itgives Henry IV time to confess what he regardsas his own most grievous fault: the deposing ofthe former King, Richard II. Now close to death,King Henry warns Hal against accepting theadvice of those who will urge him to wageforeign wars in order to secure unity at home.

Hal’s brother, Prince John, arrives from the

The play



North in time to hear his father anticipate hisimminent death. The King is carried to theJerusalem chamber to die and thus fulfil theprophecy that he should die in Jerusalem.

Act 5 scene 1Sir John Falstaff is with his old companion fromhis student days, Justice Shallow, who hopesby wining and dining the knight, to secure forhimself a privileged position at court.

Act 5 scene 2Henry IV has died and Hal is now King in hisplace. Three of Henry IV’s sons sympathise withthe situation in which the Lord Chief Justicefinds himself: given that his old adversary isKing, all seem to agree that he will lose his job.But the new King confounds their expectations.He allows the Lord Chief Justice to continuebecause he had proved his courage to upholdthe law by dealing with Hal’s past offences (hehad him imprisoned for a time) as equally aswith any other subject. Henry tells his brothersthat his wild days are behind him, that he willrecall Parliament and choose counsellors tohelp him achieve “the best-governed nation”.

Act 5 scene 3Falstaff has been indulging himself at Shallow’sexpense, and his companions are now inShallow’s orchard late in the night. Their revelryis interrupted when Pistol brings news of HenryIV’s death and Hal’s assumption of the throne.This news excites Falstaff, who believes his oldfriend will continue to do him favours and evenmake him the new Lord Chief Justice. Shallownow believes he has even more reason to investin Falstaff.

Act 5 scene 4Old certainties are challenged and a new ordersweeps through the land. In Cheapside, DollTearsheet and Mistress Quickly are arrestedfollowing the death of a man they have beatenwith Pistol’s help. In the past, with Hal’sprotection, they might have got away with it, butunder the moral purge sanctioned by the newKing and executed with new vigour by the oldLord Chief Justice, this is no longer the case.

Act 5 scene 5The final scene is a public one, seeing thespectacle of the young King’s coronation atWestminster Abbey. The crowd includesFalstaff, Shallow, Pistol and Bardolph, who allanticipate Falstaff’s instant elevation to powerfollowing the coronation. But when Henry Vemerges and hears Falstaff calling out to him,“King Hal”, his response surprises Falstaff.Although his life is spared, Falstaff is to bebanished from the King’s presence until he hasundergone a moral reformation. The processionmoves on, leaving behind a devastated Falstaffand an anxious Shallow, who stands to lose theone thousand pounds (a huge sum) that he haslent to Falstaff. Falstaff, without the continuedpatronage and protection of the King, stands tolose everything. Yet he persuades himself thatHal’s reaction to him was just a necessary partof the new King’s public image, and away fromthe public gaze, things will be different.

The Lord Chief Justice interrupts this hopefulbut doomed speculation by arresting Falstaffand his companions and committing them toprison. Prince John, the man singled out byFalstaff as being cold hearted, now applaudsthe actions of the new-style Hal and predictsthat within the year an English army will haveinvaded France. “I will lay odds that, ere thisyear expire,/We bear our civil swords and nativefire/As far as France.”

Despite Henry IV’s warning against such anaction, that is precisely what will occur: theEnglish army, led by Henry V, will invade andconquer France. Shakespeare tells this story inthe next play in the sequence, Henry V.

The play



The first play in the history cycle is Richard II,written by Shakespeare in 1595. Although, likeall of the history plays he wrote, it deals withevents in the then distant past, it packed apowerful and potentially risky contemporarypolitical message. It staged the deposition of alegitimate monarch, and Queen Elizabeth I wasanxious to prevent any connection being madein the public’s mind between the unfortunatefate that befell Richard and her own situation. Atone point, Shakespeare’s company weretemporarily imprisoned for performing it and thedeposition scene (4,1) was omitted from thefirst published version of the play in 1597.

It is followed in the cycle by the first part ofHenry IV, written a year or so later in 1596-97.The play continues to tell the epic story ofEnglish history, drawn in large part from thehistorian Holinshed’s Chronicles of England,Scotland and Ireland first published in 1577. Butwriting about history always tells us as much, ifnot more, about our contemporary selves as itdoes about the past. Shakespeare’s historyplays are windows onto his own world, peopledby those he met, or heard about, or saw in thestreets and inns of London and Stratford. Hedramatises social history, telling the story notonly of the actions of the great and powerful,but also the lives of ordinary people and howthe deeds of their leaders impact on them. InHenry IV Part 1, for the first time in an Englishhistory play, Shakespeare mixes comedy andhistory, not least with the introduction of SirJohn Falstaff, one of his most popularcharacters.

The following year, 1597-98, saw Shakespearecontinue with the story of the life of Henry IV bytaking it up to the monarch’s death and thesuccession of his eldest son Hal to the throne.The dramatised second part of the story hasnever been as popular in the theatre as the first,perhaps because it is a darker story, one inwhich Falstaff’s moral and physical declineresults in a loss of at least some of his beguilingcharm.

Henry V was written next, in 1598-99. From thestart it was regarded as a great patriotic playshowing the young King finally fulfilling thedream of his father that he would leave behindthe taverns of Eastcheap and act out his destinyas the acknowledged and loved leader of aunited kingdom.

The narrative sequence of English history iscontinued in the trilogy Henry VI Parts 1, 2 & 3.However, these plays were actually amongstthe first that Shakespeare wrote, between 1591and 1592. They have not proved as popular withaudiences as others in the history cycle,perhaps due in part to their highly elaborateplots and, certainly in the case of Parts 1 and 2,the lack of a central character with the appeal ofa Hotspur, a Falstaff, or a Henry V.

One outstanding character does emerge inHenry VI Part 3: Richard, Duke of Gloucester.Shakespeare dramatises his rise and fall inRichard III, published in 1592-93. Only at theend of this play are England’s ‘wild times’,finally laid to rest.

Shakespeare’s History Plays



PRE-PERFORMANCEThere are potentially lots of issues and ideas inboth parts of Henry IV that would appeal to anadolescent reader/playgoer and which teachersmight want to follow up. Firstly, in part 1Shakespeare dramatises the politics of thefamily, and especially of that invariablyproblematic relationship between fathers andtheir adolescent sons, that exists in manycontemporary families.

Family relationshipsTo help students think about family relationshipsand thus consider those dramatised in bothparts of Henry IV, use a simple exercise thatdraws on their own personal experience. Allowapproximately three minutes per person for arough idea how long this exercise will last withyour group.

Sit together in a circle (preferably on the floor,because chairs and certainly desks or tablestend to make the situation more formal than itneeds to be for this purpose).

Ask the students (of either sex, it doesn’tmatter) to think for two minutes about therelationship they have with their fathers. Thestudents then tell the group a brief but true storyabout an occasion in which they have clashedwith him. If some of the group don’t know theirbiological father, they can choose an alternativeperson who they regard as either a father figureor figure of some authority (such as a teacher).

Ask a volunteer (you might decide that no onehas to speak if they don’t wish to) to tell theirstory. Do this until everyone has had a chanceto speak, if they wish to. You will bring togetherany common threads. Why do these clashesoccur? What are fathers concerned about? Dofathers appear to treat daughters differentlyfrom their sons? Is the role of father a difficultone to perform? How does the father’s rolediffer from the mother’s?

If the students have read the plays or alreadyseen them, ask what qualities a good fathershould possess. Are they present in Henry IVand Northumberland? Or Falstaff?

Although it is old, Orson Welles’ 1965 filmChimes at Midnight (119 minutes, available on

video and DVD) has still, like Falstaff himself,many good things in it. It uses text from RichardII, both parts of Henry IV, Henry V, and TheMerry Wives of Windsor, with a narrativecommentary from Holinshed’s Chronicles.Without necessarily showing the whole film, itoffers an opportunity to consider an interestinginterpretation of the changing and problematicrelationship between Falstaff and the youngPrince Hal, and a good base for comparisonwith that performed by Michael Gambon(Falstaff) and Matthew Macfadyen (Prince Hal)at the National.

WATCHING THE PLAYSFamily relationships in Henry IV Part 1In preparing to watch the performance, ask thestudents to look for those moments in theproduction when father and son share thestage.

The Earl of Northumberland and HotspurThe Earl of Northumberland and his son Harry,known as Hotspur, are together for the first andonly time in Act 1 scene 3:

∑ There are several other people present (including the King)

∑ Northumberland doesn’t have much to say in comparison to his son

∑ How is the father-son relationship staged in Nicholas Hytner’s production?

∑ How does the movement, gesture and use of the stage by the actors (Jeffery Kissoon as Northumberland, David Harewood as Hotspur) signal the family relationship?

Is the father-son relationship made more obvious by the staging than it is on the page?

Having seen it in performance, what adjectives would describe their relationship?

∑ Why should this father/son relationship be of importance to some of the key ideas in the play as a whole?

Henry IV and Prince HarryThe relationship between that other troubled adolescent male and his father (the Prince ofWales and Henry IV) is dramatised in Act 3scene 2. Although father and son appear

Teaching Henry IV Parts 1 and 2



together later in Part 1, in this scene they arealone and the meeting is highly charged.

What is happening on the stage before the Kingspeaks and what does it signify?

The King speaks first. What is Hal (MatthewMacfadyen) doing whilst David Bradley, playingHenry IV, listens to him? Does he really appearto listen? How does he react, how close is he tohis father, does he move about or is he still?Does he touch his father?

When the Prince responds with his last speechin the scene how, if at all, does he signal anychanges that have occurred in the relationship?

What adjectives would describe their relationshipat the start of the scene and at the end?

Falstaff and Prince HarryThe other relationship that in many waysresembles that of a father and son is of coursebetween the young Prince of Wales and themuch older figure of Falstaff. In Act 2 scene 4the two men play a game where firstly Hal playshimself and Falstaff his father, then switches toHal playing Henry IV, with Falstaff as himself.

In the performance of this ‘play within a play’,what did the acting tell you about therelationship between these characters?:

From what Hal says, what do we learn about his father, Henry IV?

∑ From what Falstaff says, what do we learn about Falstaff?

∑ How would you describe the relationship between the two men as it is shown in this scene?

What do they look like? Personal appearance is hugely important tomost young people – what they wear, how theylook, and their body image are topics ofconversation and preoccupation. They areusually sensitive about what they wear, notsurprisingly, because clothes signal status,class, occupation, state of mind, gender, ageetc. Wearing certain clothes signals belongingto a particular group, and there are manydifferent groups (or factions) in these plays.

How do students imagine the look of the maincharacters in this play? If setting it in moderndress for example, what would Falstaff wear?How would Hotspur and Prince Hal bedistinguished by their clothes? After seeing theplay, how did Nicholas Hytner’s productionpresent them?

In Henry IV Part 1 how people look is politicallyimportant. For example, see the contrastingdescriptions of those people that make up thearmy of the King, by both Vernon and Falstaff in Act 4:

Vernon:All furnished, all in arms;All plumed like estridges that with the windBated like eagles having lately bathed;Glittering in golden coats like images

Falstaff:There’s not a shirt and a half in all my company;and the half-shirt is two napkins tacked togetherand thrown over the shoulders like a herald’scoat without sleeves

Why should Shakespeare have Vernon describe the King’s forces in this way?

Who do you think he is describing?

What effect might his words have on the rebel leaders?

What effect does Falstaff’s description of his men have on us, the audience?

Who are they and how did they get there?

Teaching the plays



In the performance at the National how doesdesigner Mark Thompson use costume to: a)distinguish between the forces of the King andthose of the rebels? b) distinguish betweenthose of different status?

Body politicsWhat people wear and how they wear it formpart of the language of performance, both onstage and in life. We all perform different rolesboth professionally and personally andsometimes dress accordingly. But what weactually look like, our body shape, height,weight, age, colour of hair etc. are given. Theyare equally if not more significant in how we feelabout ourselves, and how others feel about us.

Both plays offer an opportunity for students todiscuss how they tend to read and categorisepeople on the basis of external appearance.

The text in Part 1 clearly describes Falstaff asboth fat and old. Look at the Prince of Wales’description of him during the play within theplay, in Act 2 scene 4.

“…There is a devil haunts thee in the likeness ofan old fat man; a tun of man is thy companion.Why dost thou converse with that trunk ofhumours, that bolting-hutch of beastliness, thatswoll’n parcel of dropsies, that huge bombardof sack, that stuffed cloakbag of guts, thatroasted Manningtree ox with pudding in hisbelly, that reverend vice, that grey iniquity, thatfather ruffian, that vanity in years…”[our emphasis]

The insults the Prince throws at his friendpresume a great deal on the solidity of theirfriendship because they are potentially veryhurtful indeed. Falstaff is old, he does not denyit. He was a student with Justice Shallow 55years ago, making him at least 70. Hisimmediate and witty response to the Prince’sattack comes so readily to mind that it wouldseem that he is well used to fending off such abarrage of insults. “If to be old and merry be asin, then many an old host that I know is damned.If to be fat is to be hated, then Pharaoh’s leankine are to be loved.”

One of the interesting questions about the playsand the performance of Falstaff by Michael

Gambon will be to what extent the actor signalsthat Falstaff’s age and physical condition (he iscalled “the hulk” among other things) istroubling to him. Does he carry his weightlightly; does his outer self determine at least inpart the kind of inner man he has become?

Although there is no answer to it in the text, anactor playing the part of Falstaff might askhimself about the psychology of the man. WasFalstaff an overweight boy, and was he bulliedbecause of it? Did this condition mean that heneeded to rely on his wit as opposed to hislooks as his principal weapon in making his wayin the world? Did he need to compensate for hislack of conventional good looks by developingaspects of his personality in order to appeal toothers as, for example, a comic, a dare devil ora bully?

In Henry IV Part 2 Falstaff’s reaction to his oldstudent companion Shallow’s behaviour in Act3 scene 2 seems to smack of a man getting hisown back in return for insults about his sizelevelled at him years before. Safely alone heaccuses Shallow of lies and exaggeration, andthen focuses on what Shallow looked like as ayoung man: “…like a man made after supper ofa cheese-paring. When ́ a was naked, he was forall the world like a forked radish, with a headfantastically carved upon it with a knife.”

What is honour?Audiences have traditionally warmed to Falstaffbecause, perhaps like them, he is more inclinedto be human than heroic, knows how to enjoyhimself, and would prefer, given a choice, to beat home or in the pub rather than risking his lifeon a muddy and dangerous battlefield on behalfof a cause he knows little of and cares for evenless. However, recognisable and understandableas Falstaff’s instinct for self-preservation is, hisattitude towards self-sacrifice and the rhetoricthat surrounds it is not unproblematic.

Get your students to look at the speech hemakes at the end of Act 5 scene 1 of Part 1. Hiswords raise the question of whether or not thereis ever a cause worth fighting or even dying for.In the midst of this battle, in which his youngfriend is risking his life, and when the King hasjust issued the rallying cry “…God befriend us

Teaching the plays



as our cause is just”, Falstaff does not go off tofight but ponders his situation. He is alone; andtemporarily at least, safe. Should he fight andnot worry about the death the Prince has saidhe owes to God? If he fights, what is he fightingfor: the honour of King and country, or his ownself-esteem? What, he ruminates, does theword honour actually mean?

“Well ́ tis no matter; honour pricks me on. Yea,but how if honour prick me off when I come on?How then? Can honour set a leg? No. Or anarm? No. Or take away the grief of a wound?No. Honour hath no skill in surgery then? No.What is honour? A word. What is in that wordhonour? What is that honour? Air – a trimreckoning! Who hath it? He that died aWednesday. Doth he feel it? No. Doth he hearit? No. ́ Tis insensible then? Yea, to the dead.But will it not live with the living? No. Why?Detraction will not suffer it. Therefore I’ll none ofit. Honour is a mere scutcheon*…”

* A scutcheon was a painted shield with a coatof arms that identified a nobleman.

Order v chaos; individual freedom versussocial responsibilityIn Part 2 the deadly struggle and war of wordscontinue between the nobility; interspersed withthe domestic humour and chaos of ordinarylives being lived out in the tavern and theorchard. There are voices other than Falstaff’sthat remind us of the human cost of war, notleast that of Northumberland as he grieves atthe news of his son Harry Hotspur’s death at thestart of Part 2.

Other voices make us aware of the fact that theleadership acknowledges what unresolvedquarrels between great men can lead to. Forexample, one of the King’s key allies,Westmorland, asks at the close of Act 4 scene 1why the Archbishop (one of the leading rebels)should be contemplating civil war:

“Wherefore do you so ill translate yourselfOut of the speech of peace that bears such graceInto the harsh and boisterous tongue of war,Turning your books to graves, your ink to blood,Your pens to lances, and your tongue divineTo a loud trumpet and a point of war?”

Earlier in the play Morton, also one of the King’smen, has already told us the answer. Like thosewho today claim to lead holy wars, the bishopexploits his position and “turns insurrection toreligion;/Supposed sincere and holy in histhoughts/He’s followed both with body and withmind,/And doth enlarge his rising with theblood/Of fair king Richard, scraped fromPomfret stones;/Derives from heaven his quarreland his cause…” (Part 2, I, i)

The quarrel between the rebels and the Kingnever appears to be sufficient cause to justifyhundreds if not thousands of men making thesupreme sacrifice. Nonetheless, they doquarrel, and as a result many die. If nothingelse, these deaths remind us that unlessquarrels within a society can be resolvedpeacefully, everyone will suffer, and that toavoid them in the first place it is necessary tohave strong and legitimate leadership. Theproblem for the King throughout both plays isthat some people question his legitimacy asKing, and also that his heir, the Prince of Wales,appears to value his individual freedom morethan his duty and obligation as a Prince andfuture King to lead his people by example.

In Part 2, Act 4 scene 5, Henry IV gives a vivididea of why good leadership matters. Why itmay be sometimes necessary to use force todefend order if only to stave off the anarchy andchaos that lies so close to the surface of thisand all societies. The key message throughoutPart 2 would appear to be that we need leaders,whatever their faults: without them, anarchythreatens us all. Unless his adolescent son,Prince Hal, learns how to behave as aresponsible adult, as a leader, as a King, hisfather fears the worst for everyone else:

“Harry the Fifth is crowned! Up vanity!Down royal state! All you sage counsellors, hence!And to the English court assemble now,From every region, apes of idleness!Now, neighbour confines, purge you of your scum!Have you a ruffian that will swear, drink, dance,Revel the night, rob, murder, and commitThe oldest sins the newest kind of ways?Be happy, he will trouble you no more.England shall double gild his treble guilt;

Teaching the plays



England shall give him office, honour, might;For the fifth Harry from licence plucksThe muzzle of restraint, and the wild dogShall flesh his tooth on every innocent.O my poor kingdom, sick with civil blows!When that my care could not withhold thy riots,What wilt thou do when riot is thy care?O, thou wilt be a wilderness again,Peopled with wolves, thy old inhabitants.”

At the end of Part 2, following the coronation,Falstaff calls after Henry V, but instead offulfilling his old companion’s hopes of him,Henry fulfils those of his father:

“I know thee not old man. Fall to thy prayers.How ill white hairs becomes a fool and jester.I have long dreamt of such a man,So surfeit-swelled, so old, and so profane,But being awaked I do despise my dream.”(V, iv)

If he is to be believed, the new young King hascrossed over from being an adolescent withoutresponsibility to a public man with very manyresponsibilities. He has woken up to thepolitical realities he inherited from his father. “Ihave turned away my former self” he claims,and now turns towards the performance ofleadership so long expected of him. In Henry V,Shakespeare shows just how successful he isto become.

Discuss leadership with students.

What makes a good leader?

What qualities does s/he need to possess?

Who today do they think of as a good leader?

Are there personal stories that might be shared in which students tell of situations in which they were in the role of leader, or where they thought they were led?

Have they ever been misled, and if so, how and by whom?

Peter ReynoldsMarch 2005

Teaching the plays



Samantha Potter provides an insight to thedecisions and preparations made beforerehearsals, and to the role she plays as StaffDirector on the production.

Pre-rehearsal preparations Prior to going into rehearsals many majordecisions need to be made about a production.With these productions of the Henry IV plays,Nicholas Hytner had to decide how he wantedto set the plays, what the design will be, howmany actors he is going to use and who he isgoing to cast in each role, and the plays need tobe cut so that they are a palatable length forperformance.

Setting: Period and StyleNick Hytner and Mark Thompson (the Designer)have made several fundamental decisionsabout the style of the production, which willinform how we are going to set them. Nick feelsthat these plays cannot be updated to a modernsetting as they are specifically about themedieval world. They are also about Englandand need to be set in this country. Moving themto another contemporary country woulddiminish them. The presence of civil war, bothprior to Part 1 and during the plays, isabsolutely crucial to the central themes. Thebattles – which are pivotal to the plot – have tobe sword fights, as they involve single people inactual physical combat, most particularly in theHal and Hotspur duel. There is a theme runningthrough both plays about misinformation andthe difficulty of communication in the medievalworld; epitomised in the opening of Part 2,when Northumberland is given completelyincorrect information about the outcome of therebellion. All of these factors constitute a strongargument for a historical setting.

However, the plays also consist of themes andcharacters that are completely relevant to acontemporary audience and are surprisinglymodern on a variety of levels. For example thevarious father-son relationships; the idea ofaccepting responsibility; and the notion thatguilt derived from one’s actions can becomeoverpowering, are all ideas which a modernaudience can understand. Not to mention that

the banter in the tavern scenes could be takenfrom a pub in East London today.

With Mark Thompson, Nick has chosen asetting to accommodate the historical aspectsof the play whilst allowing the contemporaryaspects to feel relevant. There are someeclectic objects in the set – for instance, we willuse big leather armchairs – but none of theitems actually dates from after the SecondWorld War. Mark is also going to use modernfabrics for costumes (including motorcycleleathers for the armour), but he is going to usethem in a way that looks medieval. Visually theplay will look medieval, but feel universal, andNick will aim to draw contemporary-feelingperformances from the actors: he wants theverse to be spoken in a very easy-soundingway.

In terms of design, Nick also has one very clearimage for starting Part 1. He feels it is crucial tomake clear that these plays are occurring in acountry which has been ravaged by civil war formany years, and that as a direct result of the in-fighting, the country is both poor anddishevelled. This is referred to in King Henry’sfirst speech: “So shaken as we are, so wan withcare; Find we a time for frighted peace to pant.”Nick wants to reinforce this by giving theaudience a very clear visual image of the stateof the country. He is intending to start the playwith the King walking through a battlefield tofurther clarify where we are at the start of theplay.

CastingIn Part 1 there are 37 characters; 51 charactersin Part 2, which totals 88 characters throughout.We calculated that we can do the play with 28actors - 23 men and five women - whichrequires some actors to play more than onerole. We had to decide not only how thisdoubling within the casting would work (veryfew actors are only playing one part), but alsohad to bear in mind that we need to understudyevery part as well. So with the women, forexample, one could technically do the play withonly three women playing lots of parts, but thiswould leave no- one to understudy the larger

Preparing the National’s productions



parts. We have decided to use five actresses,who play fewer parts but some of whom alsounderstudy.

Once we decided how many actors we can use,we apportioned them to characters, whichmeant working out the ‘doubling’. A lot of this isdependent on who we have chosen. Forexample, Adrian Scarborough is going to playboth Poins and Silence, which is not a usualdouble as Silence has to be extremely old andPoins a young man, but it is a double madepossible by using a particularly versatile actor.Essentially we have cast the play by selectingpeople to play the larger roles initially and whenwe had the final cast list, we were able to workout the additional doubling of the smaller parts,taking into account the actors’ particularstrengths as well as the sheer maths of who isavailable at which point. The casting of the playhas been a very organic process, building upactors who complement one another.

Once the play is fully cast and all of the principalroles assigned, we had to work out which rolescan be understudied by each actor – an evenmore difficult logistical problem because, whilstthe majority are able to understudy other parts,they still have to cover all of the 88 parts withinboth plays. When working out the understudying,we always have to bear in mind how it will affectthe rest of the play if someone has to coversomeone else, and it is always the aim todisrupt the play as little as possible. We try tofind understudy roles for actors which theycould play in addition to the principal parts theyalready play, were someone to fall ill, rather thanhaving to have everyone change parts to cover

one person’s absence.

Cutting the PlayNick has decided that he needs both plays torun at under three hours which requires us tocut between 300 and 400 lines from each play.The cutting has been a very objective exercise,essentially based on two factors – removingrepeated information which doesn’t progressthe story, and removing sections which areextremely difficult for a modern audience tounderstand. Nick cut 300 lines out of both playsbefore rehearsals started but is continuing tocut some lines during initial rehearsals.

The BookBella Merlin is writing a book about theproduction, With the Rogue’s Company,covering the whole period from pre-productionthrough to the opening night. She started workprior to rehearsals, primarily trying to establishhow people think the production will shape up.She interviewed Nick Hytner and several of theactors about what each person is expecting ofthe productions, and will continue to updatewith members of the company throughout theprocess to see how they develop.

Samantha PotterMarch 2005.




Henry IV Part 1 previews in the Olivier Theatrefrom 16 April and opens on 4 May 2005

Henry IV Part 2 previews in the Olivier Theatrefrom 26 April and opens on 4 May 2005

Samantha Potter is producing a full backgroundpack to the production, to be launched online atwww.nationaltheatre.org.uk/edu in the middleof April 2005. The background pack will look indetail at the National’s rehearsal and productionprocess for Henry IV Parts 1 and 2.

The National Theatre is using the PenguinShakespeare versions of the text. These, alongwith With the Rogue’s Company (published withOberon Books, priced £12.99, available fromMay), and other publications, can be purchasedfrom the National’s Bookshop.

www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/bookshopT: 020 7452 3456F: 020 7452 [email protected]




7 APRIL 2005 will see the relaunch of the Penguin Shakespeare series -

the most popular editions of Shakespeare’s plays available -

with a stunning new look and a wealth of new editorial material.

www.penguinshakespeare.com

BRINGING SHAKESPEARE TO LIFEFOR A NEW GENERAT I ON …

Available from the National Theatre Bookshop in April

Used and recommended by the Royal National Theatre

‘Shakespeare – the nearest thing in incarnation to the eye of God’Laurence Olivier


Documents

Preparatory workpack TheTravelex £10Season y lVd1wf8hd6ovssje.cloudfront.net/documents/henry_iv.pdfemerged the victor, causing the anxious monarch to reflect on how different this