The First Part of King Henry the Fourth, with the Life and Death of Henry Surnamed Hotspur

Though I admire the BBC for doing the complete works of Shakespeare unabridged, I would only recommend this Henry IV if your motivation for seeing it is completely utilitarian. The only advantage to seeing this over reading it is that it might be easier to understand and quicker.

When William Shakespeare's history play, "The History of Henrie IV" (later renamed "The History of Henry IV" Part 1 to distinguish it from its sequel) entered onto the literary stage towards the end of the 16th century, both figuratively and metaphorically, one of the most famous and popular of Shakespeare's characters made his debut: Sir John "Jack" Falstaff. As far as we know, Falstaff was an immediate sensation, attested by the numerous quarto editions printed prior to the so-called Shakespeare First Folio of his collected works which appeared in 1623. Sir John Falstaff, possibly loosely based on Sir John Oldcastle, a knight and friend of Henry V until he rebelled against the king, is an old knight whose "vassals" are a bunch of drunken lowlifes who congregate with him at his "court", a tavern far removed from real court life among the nobility. Although, one frequenter of the tavern and friend of Falstaff is Prince Hal, son of King Henry IV.

Three different groups of characters form the play "Henry IV Part 1". There is the king and his immediate group of advisers, a rogue group who have designs to overthrow the king, and Falstaff and his group of "courtiers" at his tavern. Prince Hal moves within the circles of two of the three groups, until, by play's end, all three groups converge in the climactic scene. While the play is named "King Henry IV Part 1", much of the stage-time is devoted to the relationship between Prince Hal and Sir John Falstaff. We never know why Prince Hal congregates with these drunkards, but we learn at play's beginning, he's been doing this for a long time.

The play begins circa 1400. It's been approximately one year since Henry of Bolinbroke, now King Henry IV (Jon Finch), deposed his inept and unresolved cousin, King Richard II in one of the most famous coups in English history. However, even after a year, there is still uncertainty in the court regarding King Henry, mainly among the nobles and barons that he has no legitimate claim to the throne. And there had been an outbreak near the Scottish and Wales border at the play's beginning, involving King Richard's chosen heir, Mortimer.

Edmund Mortimer, brother of Henry Percy Hotspur, is being held ransom by a Welsh traitor, Owen Glendower. Hotspur insists Mortimer fought valiantly against the rebels, but the king, based on his own intelligence, doesn't believe Mortimer to be as loyal and brave as Hotspur propagates and refuses to pay the ransom for Mortimer's release. The Percy's also hold in their charge prisoners from the rebellion, and the king wants them turned over to him, but they refuse to comply because of Edmund Mortimer. This compels Hotspur and other members of the Percy family, notably his uncle Thomas Percy, to raise an army and rebel against the king. The Percy's had backed Henry during the coup allowing him to become king.

On another front is Prince Hal (David Gwillim) who has been commiserating with Sir John Falstaff (Anthony Quayle) and his congregation of drunkards at a tavern, presumably in the seedier side of London. Most of the cronies are far older than Prince Hal, save one, Poins, who appears not only to be the same age as Hal but probably more intelligent than the others. Poins convinces Hal to play a trick on Falstaff and his drunkards. Through conniving, they convince Falstaff that he and some of the other bar-flies should rob money from some wealthy traveling tradesmen/travelers. Unbeknownst to them, Hal and Poins in turn plan to rob the money from Falstaff and friends, knowing that when they return to the tavern, Falstaff will boast that they were set upon by 20 to 30 vagabonds. Their predictions prove right, but Falstaff exceeds expectations, claiming he was set upon by 100 vagabonds who he fought off valiantly!

Eventually, a messenger is sent to the tavern summoning Hal back to the court at the king's behest. In a brilliant scene, Falstaff and Hal re-enact Hal's return to the king, with Falstaff playing the king and Hal himself, then reversing the roles. However, when Hal does confront his father back at the castle, neither of the play-acting scenes mirrors the confrontation. The king, in perhaps the most famous scolding in Shakespeare, reprimands his son for commiserating with the barflies at the tavern, reminding him he is to be king one day, and his behaviors shame him and his noble-royal family. He reminds Hal that they have serious matters to attend to, notably to confront Hotspur and the rebellion. Even though Hotspur's behavior has turned treasonous, the king admires Hotspur's military resolve, not convinced Prince Hal has the same metal.

This is a wonderful production of perhaps William Shakespeare's best fusion of drama and comedy in a play. Jon Finch makes a compelling King Henry IV, his resonant voice echoes the words of Shakespeare of the late 16th century portraying a medieval king of the early 15th century. David Gwillim makes a good Prince Hal, who must juggle his desire to hang out with Falstaff and friends and yet do his duty as prince to the king. However, Anthony Quayle nearly steals the show as Sir John Falstaff. Quayle makes the lines of Falstaff his own, the old knight constantly telling stories of passed exploits in which the details are just a little bit bloated. In an interesting turn, when Prince Hal rhetorically puts Falstaff in a corner after the old knight claimed he was set upon by 100 vagabonds, and Hal admits it was only he and Poins, Falstaff in true Shakespeare fashion comes up with a quick-witted response!

When the BBC started doing the Shakespeare plays in which we on the other side of the pond were privileged enough to see, they did a wise thing in having the same actors play the same characters giving continuity to the plays. All of the people from Richard II whose roles were repeated in Henry IV got to do their parts again. Most important was Jon Finch who as Bolingbroke usurped the crown from Richard II in the previous work and now is Henry IV in both Henry IV Part One and Two.

In this production Finch is finding out what it's like to be king as some of us supporters are now disillusioned with him. Most prominently the Earl of Northumberland and his son Henry Percy known as Hotspur for his skill as a fighting man and a rather quick temper. They're gathering some similarly malcontented people to their cause in overthrowing the king they feel was not up to the job.

Henry IV had several sons and what happens with them is the subject of several succeeding historical plays Henry V and the three parts of Henry VI as well as Henry IV Part Two. The oldest is Prince Henry known as Prince Hal. Instead of helping dad out with running the kingdom, he'd rather hang around the taverns with such low born folks as John Falstaff and have a rollicking good time.

And playing Hal one of Shakespeare's most popular characters is David Gwillim. He gives a splendid interpretation of the part, playing nicely against both Finch as his father and his older companion in merriment Falstaff who is also fully realized in character by Anthony Quayle. This character proved so popular back in the day when he was created in both Henry IV plays, Master Will Shakespeare was forced by public opinion which meant then the lords and ladies and titled folk who saw his work to create a separate work around Falstaff with The Merry Wives Of Windsor. It's a great part for one to give full range to the emotions. Falstaff is a braggart and a liar, but he does it with such aplomb that you can't help liking him. In fact the character in a modern guise appears in My Own Private Idaho where parts of Henry IV Part One and Two are used in Keanu Reeves's dialog who was Prince Hal in that Gus Van Sant classic.

The fun loving Hal is contrasted with Henry Percy who is played with fire and passion by Tim Pigott-Smith. Hotspur is a character you see recur in many of Shakespeare's work, a single minded hot head like Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet and Laertes in Hamlet. He's contemptuous of Hal, but when the time comes Prince Hal shows dad and the audience he has the right stuff.

Henry IV Part One follows in the same excellent tradition of Richard II. At some point I would love to see all the BBC Shakespeare plays from this series and hope they all maintain the same quality.

Anthony Quayle was one of last century's most effective Falstaffs on stage. His performance here is brilliant but encumbered by the overall interpretation.

David Giles called the second tetralogy a "Henriad", the story of how Hal grows up to be Henry V, and the plays are cut accordingly. For instance, Falstaff's words to Hal, "thy love is worth a million, thou owest me thy love," are gone, as is much of the warmth between the old knight and the young prince. As a result, Falstaff becomes a secondary character who hums and haws with nervousness.

David Gwillim is engagingly ingenuous as Hal, and he very nearly succeeds in carrying the additional weight that Giles has loaded on him.

The rest of the cast is also strong, with Jon Finch a guilt-ridden usurper, Tim Pigott-Smith a fiercely mock-heroic Hotspur, and Richard Owens a pompously magical Glendower.

The BBC Television Shakespeare is a fascinating series for seeing so many talented actors and seeing the plays, familiar and not so familiar, adapted and performed relatively faithfully on the whole. Some are better than others, with not every performance in the series working and there could be issues with low budget production values and in some productions stage direction.

When it comes to the best productions of the BBC Television Shakespeare series, to me 'The First Part of King Henry the Fourth and The Life and Death of Henry Renamed Hotspur' is among the best. Have enjoyed to loved most though, but it was lovely to see one of Shakespeare's best mixes of comedy and drama done so beautifully and those not familiar with it will find it an education.

It is visually a solid production, while not elaborate or lavish the action feels opened up and not confined. The use of music was lovely, couldn't question any of the placements and it is lovely music in its own right.

On a stage direction level, it is one of the main reasons as to why 'The First Part of Henry the Fourth' is one of the series' best. It is always absorbing, and it is agreed that it mixes both comedy, which is very funny and often hilarious, and drama, which is poignant. Not only because the energy is never lost, it's never static (even the more action-oriented scenes), it is always tasteful with no pointless touches and that it never resorts to overblown excess that swamps everything else. It's also because of the subtleties and the details, big and small, where the characters are so well fleshed out motivations are clear and everything seems to happen for a reason and not randomly.

Jon Finch is very commanding in the title role, no signs of discomfort here. Another standout is Anthony Quayle having the time of his life as Falstaff while David Gwillim is movingly conflicted as Hal. Tim Pigott Smith is an amusing Hotspur.

Concluding, wonderful. 10/10 Bethany Cox