Henry IV, Part One is one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, but Henry IV, Part Two is rarely produced. Dakin Matthews has taken Henry IV, Part One and Part Two and adapted them into one three-act play of 3:45 including two intermissions, creating one play approximately half the length of the two separately.
With vivid, indelible characters drawn from England’s 15th Century’s Wars of the Roses, the Adaptation is gripping and epic, exploring timeless questions about legitimate authority and how the private lives of rulers conflict with their public lives. When the play begins, King Henry IV, has taken the throne from his cousin Richard. Henry is plagued by guilt and challenged by a rebellion led by the brave Henry Percy (Hotspur). Prince Hal, King Henry’s son, is alienated from his father and, rather than assuming the duties of the heir apparent, spends his time in a tavern with the old knight Falstaff, an outlaw, liar and great wit with insatiable appetites.
