Rebel in henry iv part 1 full#

To help support Night Writes, please consider tipping.' Henry IV, Part 1 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. For more information about live and recorded viewings, see Streamed ShakespeareвЂ™s website. Henry IV Part 1 & 2 are streaming online from April 16th вЂ“ 24th. Imagining the action as an epic future conflict, Crisden creates a distance from historical detail that allows the charactersвЂ™ constructions to shine through in the crystallised story of a young man burdened by vice and desire growing into himself and his obligations.

Rebel in henry iv part 1 full#

Henry IV Part 1 & 2 as history plays are weighed heavy with characters and political contexts and connotations but overall, the story is a sweeping heroвЂ™s journey full of both bloody battles and bro-y banter. Other stand-out performances came from Tofete as the slippery Falstaff with his greedy, lying personality but big laugh and Susan JordanвЂ™s Mistress Quickly as the hotel keeper who did well to create a sense of LondonвЂ™s rough streets stretching beyond her individual character. In particular, Perritt and Angie Gachomo had a handful of sweet moments as Henry Percy and Lady Percy in Part 1 while Mayer and Entwistle shared a remarkably moving confrontation between father and son on King Henry IVвЂ™s deathbed in Part 2. The cast were admirable in the more intimate moments of these two productions for developing close intercharacter dynamics and earnestly portraying these relationships on screen. Perhaps the most difficult aspect of translating live performance to a digital platform is conveying the emotional connection between the characters and the audience without a physical proximity. Added musical direction and composition from Paul Bremen, in the battle scenes particularly, recreated the sense of grandeur that movies like Star Wars create for their worlds and stories. The detail of using virtual backgrounds to вЂњplaceвЂќ characters in the same space was clever as was turning page characters into R2D2-like robots (voiced by Camille Tovey). These digital set elements, directed by Alex Perritt, were particularly impressive and greatly contributed to the world-building around an otherwise flat screen interface. To bring this virtual futuristic world to life, a technical team used digital backgrounds for each character, pre-recorded fight sequences, and animated contextualising shots of alien metropolises and dualing war ships amongst the stars.

But the popular character of Falstaff has a vested interest in continuing his relationship with young Prince Hal and a large part of this second play includes his dalliances throughout England.

Part 2 then turns its attention specifically on Prince Hal as he regains his honour and reputation in order to accept the crown after his fatherвЂ™s death. The action culminates in the Battle of Shrewsbury where Prince Hal kills Henry Percy and takes the wind out of the sails of the rebels. This isnвЂ™t helped by his sonвЂ™s insistence on carrying on with his unsavoury friends including the drunkard Jack Falstaff (Asalemo Tofete). In Part 1, King Henry IV (Charles Mayer) grows uneasy as a group of rebels led by Henry вЂњHotspurвЂќ Percy (Alex Perritt) grow in disquiet and begin to challenge his leadership. As such, Crisden transferred the complicated political struggles between England, Scotland, and Wales from 400 years in the past forward to 400 years in the future where battles are fought in fighter jets and the consequences are intergalactic. In reading these two plays, director Haki Pepo Olu Crisden say the similarities between Prince Hal (Tristan Entwistle) with his rise from wealthy scallywag to King Henry V and the pop culture hero Luke Skywalker from the Star Wars franchise. In Henry IV Part 1 & 2, the expected wit and politics of ShakespeareвЂ™s writing is only amplified by real royalty and warfare. While itвЂ™s true that William ShakespeareвЂ™s history plays donвЂ™t receive as much modern attention as his comedies and tragedies, his ability to dramatise the lives of British rulers garnered the playwright much praise in his day.