The great strength of the English Shakespeare Company's Henry IV is its eclecticism. The costumes include chain mail, Victorian-Edwardian formal dress, and battle fatigues. In Henry IV Part II, Pistol wears a leather motorcycle jacket with "Hal's Angels" on the back.
The production began on stage and was filmed with an audience. There is an aura of fluidity and improvisation about the whole film, which gives a simultaneous sense of freshness and timelessness.
The great weakness of the English Shakespeare Company's Henry IV is its incoherence. This is in some fashion anti-Shakespeare or at least anti-traditionalist Shakespeare, and in some cases (the cutting of set-piece speeches) the result is the weakening of the play. Too many modern issues and interpretations tug at the text - often, it seems, from different directions.
However, the cast is uniformly excellent, and the readings are interesting even when they are ill advised.
The production began on stage and was filmed with an audience. There is an aura of fluidity and improvisation about the whole film, which gives a simultaneous sense of freshness and timelessness.
The great weakness of the English Shakespeare Company's Henry IV is its incoherence. This is in some fashion anti-Shakespeare or at least anti-traditionalist Shakespeare, and in some cases (the cutting of set-piece speeches) the result is the weakening of the play. Too many modern issues and interpretations tug at the text - often, it seems, from different directions.
However, the cast is uniformly excellent, and the readings are interesting even when they are ill advised.
