Player Kings (NHB Classic Plays) E-Book

William Shakespeare

• Herausgeber: Nick Hern Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Seitenzahl: 164

Beschreibung

The crown meets the criminals. Welcome to England. Hal wasn't born to be king. Only now, it seems, he will be. His father longs for him to leave behind his friends in the taverns of Eastcheap, most notably the infamous John Falstaff. War is on the horizon. But will Hal ever come good? Adapted by award-winning writer and director Robert Icke, Player Kings brings together two of Shakespeare's great history plays, Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, in a visionary new version. It opened at the Noël Coward Theatre, London, in 2024, before embarking on a UK tour. It was directed by Robert Icke, with a cast including Toheeb Jimoh, Richard Coyle and Ian McKellen as Falstaff. 'Robert Icke has an uncanny ability to get to the psychological heart of a classic text. [This is] a terrific take on one of the greatest plays ever written' - Time Out 'A national epic of power-play, racing from tavern to court and field of conflict. It's as propulsive as The Crown… heart-stopping… a must-witness' - Telegraph 'Robert Icke, the neon-intellect, rapid-action director, has spliced together the two separate plays of Henry IV to make an epic portrait… striking and unsentimental… devastating' - Observer 'Unforgettable… brings out the subtleties and violence of Shakespeare's plays' - Financial Times 'An incisive and intelligent adaptation… This rich, vivid and visceral version of Shakespeare's Henry IV is at once a skewering of the mythology of Englishness and patriotism, a shrewd overview of the current state of the nation and a piece of premium classical theatre… all conveyed with pin-sharp clarity and an arresting immediacy… Icke delineates the oppositions that Shakespeare set up without labouring the point or simplifying the characters' complex humanity' - The Stage 'Richly complex and thrilling' - Guardian

Leseprobe

William Shakespeare

PLAYER KINGS

adapted from Henry IV Parts One & Two by

Robert Icke

edition prepared by Lizzie Manwaring and Jack Bradfield

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

CONTENTS

Introduction by Robert Icke

Original Production Details

A Note on the Text

Player Kings

About the Adapter

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

INTRODUCTION

Henry IV Part 1 seems to date from around 1598, the year when it was entered into the Stationers’ Register, and the year it was first published in a single (quarto) edition. That five more quarto editions were published between then and 1623 tells us something about quite how popular it was in its day. It’s likely that Part 2 was written within a year, and was printed in quarto in 1600.

Shakespeare took his history from Holinshed’s Chronicles and, as he usually did, changed it to suit his purposes. He rearranges dates and facts, adds characters and sometimes bends them into his pattern: Hotspur, in reality, was no young rival, but twenty-four years older than Hal.

Again and again within the plays, characters change and retell action we’ve witnessed to suit their own purposes. Falstaff’s fear of Hotspur’s dead body, and his worry that he too might ‘rise’, blossom into a full-blown account of a Falstaff–Hotspur duel, fought for ‘a long hour by Shrewsbury clock’ (which we – and Hal – know simply didn’t happen). Similarly, Hal’s story to his father – of what he was thinking when he took the crown from the royal pillow – does not precisely report what we have previously heard him say. This, perhaps, is history in action, a reminder that a historical account is really only one person’s story, after the event.

Sometimes the retelling precedes the event itself. Hal and Falstaff rehearse a conflict between Hal and his father, so that Hal can ‘practise an answer’ to his father’s complaints. But when the player king is deposed and Hal takes the throne, his role as his father seems to evaporate, the play exposing some of the bloodier extremes of his relationship with Falstaff. He can, in his pretend role as king, be (as he later promises his father) ‘more myself’. And what the real father–son conflict looks like, when we see it in a later scene, is something altogether different. Fathers – adopted, played, embodied, impersonated – are everywhere: even a wish can be a ‘father to [a] thought’.

Hal’s two father figures are only one of a series of mirrored pairs that structure the plays. There are two young rivals (Harries Percy and Monmouth), there are two rebellions, two justices of the peace, two kings (one holds court at the Boar’s Head Tavern and, unlike the one in Westminster, has a living, though unmarried queen in Mistress Quickly) who die two deaths and – somewhat miraculously – both revive.

The King, too, refuses to die on the battlefield, as the crown has sent out so many doppelgangers that Douglas complains ‘they grow like Hydra’s heads’. For King Henry, the problem with usurping a throne is that it proves that thrones can be usurped; and it seems, in the King’s mind, likely that one deposition will follow another, perhaps one even perpetrated by his son. If he can hand on the crown to Hal, a cycle of violence and civil grief can be broken – but that would only be possible if he dies and his son inherits. It’s hard to break a cycle, hard to change, and it often involves a death.

Neatly underlining this is Francis’ cry to the customers of the Boar’s Head Tavern, ‘anon, anon’ – or ‘soon, soon’. Falstaff is going to give up the drink, lose the weight, and return to a virtuous life. Hal is fully in control of his debauched life, using it only to prepare for his reformation. King Henry, in his first speech, lays out a plan to send troops to fight a foreign war in Jerusalem. Soon, soon; anon, anon. But not yet, not now. As characters keep saying, ‘Let the end try the man.’

Robert Icke

April 2024

Player Kings was commissioned and first presented on stage by Ambassador Theatre Group Productions. It opened at the Noël Coward Theatre, London, on 11 April 2024, following previews at the New Wimbledon Theatre, London, and the Opera House, Manchester, and prior to a UK tour visiting Bristol Hippodrome, Birmingham Alexandra, Norwich Theatre Royal and Newcastle Theatre Royal. The cast was as follows (in alphabetical order):

PRINCE JOHN

Raphael Akuwudike

SNARE / DAVY

Sara Beharrell

KING HENRY IV

Richard Coyle

HOTSPUR / PISTOL

Samuel Edward-Cook

BARDOLPH

Geoffrey Freshwater

WORCESTER / JUSTICE SILENCE

James Garnon

MESSENGER

Alice Hayes

HARCOURT

Henry Jenkinson

PRINCE HARRY

Toheeb Jimoh

FRANCIS / NORTHUMBERLAND

Nigel Lister

SIR JOHN FALSTAFF

Ian McKellen

WARWICK

Annette McLaughlin

PETO

Mark Monero

SIR WALTER BLUNT

Hywel Morgan

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE

Joseph Mydell

MISTRESS QUICKLY

Clare Perkins

POINS

Daniel Rabin

SIR RICHARD VERNON

David Semark

SHERIFF

David Shelley

JUSTICE SHALLOW

Robin Soans

LADY PERCY / DOLL TEARSHEET

Tafline Steen

DOUGLAS / PRINCE THOMAS

Perry Williams

Adaptor & Director

Robert Icke

Set & Costume Designer

Hildegard Bechtler

Lighting Designer

Lee Curran

Sound Designer

Gareth Fry

Casting Director

Julia Horan CDG

Hair & Make-Up Designer

Susanna Peretz

Fight Director

Kev McCurdy

Associate Costume Designer

Joanna Coe

Associate Directors

Jack Bradfield & Lizzie Manwaring

Composer

Laura Marling

Company Stage Manager

Heidi Lennard

PRODUCERS

Ambassador Theatre Group Productions

Gavin Kalin Productions

No Guarantees Productions

David & Hannah Mirvish

Rupert Gavin & Mallory Factor Partnership

Sayers & Sayers Productions

A NOTE ON THE TEXT

The traditional act and scene divisions have been removed and replaced simply with scene numbers. And there’s no punctuation other than, for clarity, the occasional forward slash (/). This is partly as we have no idea how (or if) Shakespeare would have punctuated his plays on the page; and partly to try and strip away from the play its weighty literary inheritance, the heavy sense of dusty rules, the clutter of technical terminology, and to return it simply to being sheet music for actors to act.

In the creation of Player Kings, various editions of Henry IV Parts 1 & 2 have been compared, other sources have been borrowed from, words have been changed, scenes and sentences reordered, and lines reallocated. For more detail, please see the endnotes.

CHARACTERS

WESTMINSTER

KING HENRY IV of England

PRINCE HARRY (or ‘Hal’), his eldest son

PRINCE THOMAS, his second son

PRINCE JOHN, his third son

Lady WARWICK

Sir Walter BLUNT

HARCOURT

THE LAW

The LORD CHIEF JUSTICE of England

SHERIFF Fang

Officer SNARE

NORTHUMBERLAND

Henry Percy, Earl of NORTHUMBERLAND, a rebel lord

Harry Percy, nicknamed ‘HOTSPUR’, Northumberland’s son

Thomas Percy, Earl of WORCESTER, Northumberland’s brother

LADY Kate PERCY, Hotspur’s wife

Sir Richard VERNON, a rebel lord

Earl of DOUGLAS, Scottish warlord and rebel

MESSENGER

BOAR’S HEAD TAVERN, EASTCHEAP

MISTRESS QUICKLY, hostess

Sir John FALSTAFF, knight

BARDOLPH

PETO

Edward POINS, nicknamed ‘Ned’

FRANCIS, chief drawer

SECOND DRAWER, drawer

DOLL TEARSHEET, a prostitute

PISTOL

GLOUCESTERSHIRE

Justice Robert SHALLOW, a justice of the peace

Justice SILENCE, a justice of the peace

DAVY, head of Shallow’s household

This ebook was created before the end of rehearsals and so may differ slightly from the play as performed.

ONE1

Westminster.

KING HENRY IV

so shaken as we are / so wan with care

find we a time for frighted peace to pant

and breathe short winded accents of new wars2

to be commenced on shores3 afar remote

no more the thirsty entrance of this soil

shall daub her lips with her own children’s blood

no more shall trenching war channel her fields

the edge of war like an ill-sheathed knife

no more shall cut his master / therefore friends

forthwith a power of english shall we levy

as far as to the place where christ was born4

we’ll make a voyage to the holy land

to wash the blood off from our warlike hand5

WARWICK6

my liege / from wales we have most7 heavy news

whose worst is8 that young edward mortimer

is by9 the men of wild glendower taken

a thousand of his people butchered

and mortimer himself a prisoner10

KING HENRY IV

it seems then that the tidings of this broil

breaks off our business for the holy land

WARWICK

it will when11 matched with other / gracious lord

for more uneven and unwelcome news

comes from the north

BLUNT12

the gallant hotspur there

the son and heir to lord northumberland13

young harry percy is victorious14

the earl of douglas has surrendered and15

ten thousand scots / seven-and-twenty16 knights

heaped17 in their own blood did our people18 see

on holmedon’s plains / the19 prisoners

that20 he in this adventure hath surprised

to his own use he keeps / and sends you21 word

you22 shall have none

WARWICK23

this is his uncle’s teaching / this is worcester

malevolent to you in all aspects

KING HENRY IV24

of prisoners hotspur took

mordake the earl of fife and eldest son

to beaten douglas / and the earls of athol

of murray / angus / and menteith

and is not this an honourable spoil?

a gallant prize? ha cousin is it not?

WARWICK25

in faith it is / a conquest for a prince to boast of

KING HENRY IV

yea / there thou makest me sad and makest me sin

in envy / that my lord northumberland

should be the father to so blest a son

a son who is the theme of honour’s tongue

whilst i by looking on the praise of him

see riot and dishonour stain the brow

of my young harry / o that it could be proved

that some night-tripping fairy had exchanged

in cradle clothes our children where they lay

then would i have his harry and he mine

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE26

my liege

KING HENRY IV

but let him from my thoughts / to hotspur send

we’ll speak to him and he can27 answer this

there’s28 more is to be said and to be done

than out of anger can be uttered

and for this cause awhile we must neglect

our holy purpose to jerusalem29

TWO30

Boar’s Head Tavern.

FALSTAFF

now hal / what time of day is it lad?

PRINCE HARRY

you are so fat-witted with drinking of old sack / and unbuttoning yourself after supper / and sleeping on benches after noon / that you have forgotten to demand that which you would truly know / what the devil hast thou to do with the time of the day? unless hours were cups of sack / and minutes chickens / and clocks the tongues of whores31 / i see no reason why you should be so superfluous as to demand the time of the day

FALSTAFF

indeed you come near me now hal / for we that take purses go by the moon and the seven stars / and i prithee sweet wag / when thou art king / as god save thy grace / majesty i should say / for grace you will have none

PRINCE HARRY

what / none?

FALSTAFF

no / not so much as will serve as prologue to an egg and butter / marry then sweet wag / when thou art king / let us not be called thieves / let us be gentlemen of the shade / minions of the moon

PRINCE HARRY

thou sayest well / and it holds well too / for the fortune of us that are the moon’s men ebb and flow like the sea / being governed as the sea is by the moon / for proof / a bag of gold snatched on monday night and spent by32 tuesday morning / now in as low an ebb as the foot of the ladder / and by and by in as high a flow as the top of the gallows

FALSTAFF

by the lord / thou sayest true lad / and is not my hostess of the tavern a most sweet wench?

PRINCE HARRY

is not a leather jacket33 a most long-wearing34 robe?

FALSTAFF

how now / how now / what have i to do with a leather jacket?

PRINCE HARRY

why / what have i to do with my hostess of the tavern?

FALSTAFF

well / you have called her to a reckoning many a time and oft

PRINCE HARRY

did i ever call for thee to pay thy part?

FALSTAFF

no i’ll give thee thy due / thou hast paid all there

PRINCE HARRY

yea and elsewhere / so far as my coin would stretch / and where it would not i have used my credit

FALSTAFF

yea / and so used it that were it not here apparent that thou art heir apparent / but i prithee sweet wag / shall there be gallows in england when thou art king? do not when thou art king hang a thief

PRINCE HARRY

no / you will

FALSTAFF

shall i? o / rare / by the lord i’ll be a brave judge

PRINCE HARRY

you judge wrong35 already / i mean you will become a hangman and do the hanging of the thieves36

FALSTAFF

well hal well / and in some sort it goes37 with my humour as

well as waiting in the court / i can tell you / god’s blood / i am as melancholy as a tom cat38 or a baited39 bear

PRINCE HARRY

or an old lion / or a lover’s lute

FALSTAFF

yea / or the drone of a lincolnshire bagpipe

PRINCE HARRY

what say you to a hare?

FALSTAFF

you have the most unsavoury similes40 / and are indeed the most comparative rascalliest sweet young prince / but hal / i prithee / trouble me no more with vanity / i would to god you and i knew where a supply of good names were to be bought / an old lord of the council berated me the other day in the street about you sir / but i marked him not / and yet he talked very wisely / but i regarded him not / and yet he talked wisely / and in the street too

PRINCE HARRY

wisdom cries out in the street and41 no man regards it

FALSTAFF

o you art able to corrupt a saint / you have done much harm upon42 me hal / god forgive you for it / before i knew you hal i knew nothing / and now am i / if a man should speak truly / little better than one of the wicked / i must give over this life / and i will give it over / by the lord / if i do not i am a villain

Enter Poins.

poins / o if men were to be saved by merit / what hole in hell were hot enough for him? this is the most omnipotent villain that ever robbed43 a true man / now shall we know if they have set a match44

PRINCE HARRY

good morrow ned

POINS

good morrow sweet hal / what says monsieur remorse? what says sir john sack and sugar? jack / how agrees the devil about your soul that you sold to him on friday last for a cup of madeira-wine45 and a cold chicken46 leg?

PRINCE HARRY

sir john stands to his word / he was never yet a breaker of promises / he will give the devil his due

POINS

but my lads / my lads / tomorrow morning / four o’clock / early /

at gad’s hill / there are traders riding to london with rich offerings and fat purses / i have hoods47 for you all / you have horses for yourselves / i have bespoke supper tomorrow night in eastcheap / we may do it as secure as sleep / if you will go / i will stuff your purses full of crowns / if you will not / tarry at home and be hanged

FALSTAFF

hear ye edward / if i tarry at home and go not i’ll hang you

POINS

will you48 chops?

FALSTAFF

hal / will you make one?

PRINCE HARRY

who i? rob? i / a thief? not i

FALSTAFF

then49 you come not of the blood royal

PRINCE HARRY

well / then once in my days i’ll be a madcap

FALSTAFF

why that’s well said

PRINCE HARRY

well / come what will / i’ll tarry at home

FALSTAFF

by the lord / i’ll be a traitor then when thou art king

PRINCE HARRY

i care not

POINS

sir john / i prithee leave the prince and me alone / i will lay him down such reasons for this adventure that he shall come

FALSTAFF

well / god give thee50 the spirit of persuasion / and him the ears of profiting / farewell / you shall find me in gad’s hill51

PRINCE HARRY

farewell thou latter spring

Exit Falstaff.

POINS

now / my good sweet honey lord / ride with us tomorrow / i have a jest to execute that i cannot manage alone / falstaff / bardolph and peto shall rob those men / yourself and i shall52 not be there / and when they have the booty / if you and i do not rob them / cut this head off from my shoulders

PRINCE HARRY

yea but ’tis like that they will know us by our habits and by every other appointment to be ourselves

POINS

our masks53 we will change after we leave them

PRINCE HARRY

yea / but i fear54 they will be too hard for us

POINS

well / for two of them i know them to be as true-bred cowards as ever ran away55 and for the third / if he fight longer than he sees reason / i’ll forswear arms

PRINCE HARRY

provide us all things necessary and meet me tonight at gad’s hill56 / farewell

POINS

farewell my lord

Exit Poins.

PRINCE HARRY

i know you all and will awhile uphold

the unyoked humour of your idleness

yet herein will i imitate the sun

who doth permit the base contagious clouds

to smother up his beauty from the world

that when he please again to be himself

being wanted he may be more wondered at

by breaking through the foul and ugly mists

of vapours that did seem to strangle him

if all the year were playing holidays

to sport would be as tedious as to work

but when they seldom come / they wished for come

so when this loose behaviour i throw off

and pay the debt i never promised

by how much better than my word i am

by so much shall i falsify men’s hopes

and like bright metal on a sullen ground

my reformation glittering o’er my fault

shall show more goodly and attract more eyes

than that which hath no foil to set it off

i’ll so offend / to make offence a skill

redeeming time when they57 think least i will

THREE58

KING HENRY IV

my blood hath been too cold and temperate

unapt to stir at these indignities

and you have found me for accordingly

you tread upon my patience / but be sure

i will from henceforth rather be myself

mighty and to be feared

WORCESTER

our house / my sovereign liege / little deserves

the scourge of greatness to be used on it

and that same greatness too which our own hands

have helped59 to make so portly

NORTHUMBERLAND

my lord

KING HENRY IV

worcester get thee gone / for i do sense60

danger and disobedience in your soul61

your presence is too bold

you have good leave to leave us / when we need

your use and counsel we shall send for you

my lord northumberland62 you were about to speak

NORTHUMBERLAND

yea / my good lord

those prisoners in your highness’ name demanded

which harry percy here at holmedon took

were not / he says / with such strength denied

as is reported63 to your majesty

either envy therefore / or misprision

is64 guilty of this fault and not my son

HOTSPUR

my liege / i did deny no prisoners

but i remember when the fight was done

when i was breathless / leaning on my sword

came there a certain lord / neat and trimly dressed

fresh as a bridegroom / and he smiled and talked

and as the soldiers bore dead bodies by

he questioned me / amongst the rest demanded

my prisoners in your majesty’s behalf

i then / all smarting with my wounds being cold

out of my grief and my impatience

answered neglectingly i know not what