Player Kings was such an anticipated production for me, I had the absolute privilege of seeing Sir Ian McKellen as Falstaff before his horrible accident. Falstaff is one of the most beloved characters in Shakespeare's canon and Ian McKellen had some (literal) big shoes to fill. I was a bit worried
going into it that he would just be a thin man in a fat suit, but he was simply not. He bodied that role with everything that Falstaff requires, and he was probably the most endearing Falstaff that I've ever seen. I usually find Falstaff to not be very palatable and annoying, but instead he was funny and nuanced.
Its no mystery that the History plays can be a bit tedious and long, so going ito this knowing that they combined two monstrously long plays into one slightly-longer-than-average Shakespeare play was very impressive. Of course, I had to go in asking myself what they had to cut to make it literally half the length of the two texts combined. The answer is, we lost a lot of Falstaff's rambling, a lot of Hotspur and his wife, and we lost a lot of the time spent in the both the Rebel's and Henry's camps (which is where many of the shenanigans happen). Personally, I missed a lot of the Hotspur (rip) and Lady Percy (in Part 2) scenes, but the streamlined storytelling wasn't lacking in nuance or the heart of the full texts.
Richard Coyle was a reverent and burdened King Henry IV, and his death scene was very moving, but I wish they could've sat in that beat for longer. I'm a big fan of James Garnon's work, he never disappoints when it comes to Shakespeare. Samuel Edward-Cook was a firey and fierce Hotspur. Toheeb Jimoh was an astounding Hal, and I'm really looking forward to where his career will take him.
All in all, I feel very lucky to have seen Sir Ian McKellen in this, it was an exceptional production. The ending was as absolutely lovely and heartbreaking as one might hope. Due to the six hours of text being cut in half, some of the thematic development was a bit rushed, but the ultimate tragedy of Hal's dismissal of Falstaff and subsequently giving himself over to the monarchy, were clear as day, and the title of Player Kings became more and more fitting as all the charactery tried on different roles as actors do, primarily Hal as King.
Rating: 4 Stars
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