Henry IV Part 1

I have run a few city marathons and I am happy to confirm that, while you will be pretty stiff if you attend Shakespeare’s King Henry IV Parts One and Two at the Globe on the same day, the similarity between running 26 miles and sitting through a six-hour Shakeathon ends there. Of course, having issued that pompous and obliquely self-congratulatory proclamation, I am struck by all the ways in which the two experiences are alike. The first half of a marathon is a great deal more fun than the second and Henry IV Part One is much better than its sequel. Without spectators a marathon is just a lot of sweaty people in pain on a Sunday and the level of audience engagement with the comic plot – made possible by the unique configuration of the Globe auditorium –brings these two plays to life.

The Henry IV plays are not really about the eponymous King. They explore the making of a monarch by following Prince Hal, the future King Henry V, from his wild youth under Falstaff’s wing through redemption, relapse, coronation and final repudiation of his old friends at the end of Part Two. The high points in both plays are those scenes in which Hal and Falstaff share the stage and, so charismatic are Jamie Parker and Roger Allam in their different ways, that some of the rest of the action seems lost in anticipation of their return.

Oliver Cotton imbues the fading Henry IV with a bristling, querulous strength made of palpable guilt over his usurpation of the crown and steely determination to pass it on to his wayward son. Sam Crane is not the manliest Hotspur in history but he does embody the bewilderment of the man of action caught up in a web of politics too subtle for him, and his reappearance (as Pistol in Part 2) is as much a treat for him as the audience.

Part Two never quite scales the same heights as Part One but don’t let that put you off seeing both: perhaps on different evenings if you want to avoid the crowds of bemused foreign school parties making up the bulk of the groundlings at the matinee performances. Standing through six showery hours of 16th century historical drama in another language: that’s a marathon.

Henry IV Part 1

by William Shakespeare

Until 2 October

at Shakespeare's Globe

Directed by Dominic Dromgoole

Designed by Jonathan Fensom

Composed by Claire van Kampen

Cast

Roger Allam: Falstaff

Jason Baughan: Westmoreland/Peto

Patrick Brennan: Lord Chief Justice/Blunt/Sherriff

Daon Broni: Mortimer/Hastings

Phil Cheadle: Douglas/Davy/Lord Bardolph

Oliver Coopersmith: Falstaff’s Page/Clarence

Oliver Cotton: King Henry IV

Sam Crane: Hotspur/Pistol

William Gaunt: Worcester

Christopher Godwin: Northumberland/Silence

Sean Kearns: Glendower/Bullcalf/Warwick

James Lailey: Mowbray/Gadshill/Mouldy

Danny Lee Wynter: Poins

Kevork Malikyan: Vernon/Morton

Barbara Marten: Mistress Quickly

Jamie Parker: Prince Hal

Paul Rider: Bardolf/Scroop

Lorna Stuart: Lady Percy

Joseph Timms: John of Lancaster

Jade Williams: Lady Mortimer

Musicians: Adrian Woodward, George Bartle, Hilary Belsey, Arngeir Hauksson, Catherine Motuz

Running Time: 3 hours including an interval