The Henriad
by Will
Reading Shakespeare’s history plays. Like all Shakespeare plays, I miss about 1/3 of the lines but I just plow forward. Even rushing through them a lot of the big moments come through: I felt badly for Richard II after he was deposed, I smile at Falstaff and Mistress Quickly, I’m scared of/impressed by the ruthlessness of Henry IV, and I get swept up at the increasingly heroic actions of Henry V.
I really wish I could see what these plays looked like when Shakespeare himself put them on. They seem built for fun, with lots of jokes and murder and backstabbing and grand speeches. It’s hard to imagine people actually understanding them as they were said. But they must have, right? Apparently the Globe Theater was a very large success, and the King’s Men (the players who built it) went on to outlive all of its founding members. How about those guys? Smart, right?
They call the first four history plays — Richard II, Henry IV Part 1, Henry IV Part 2 and Henry V — the “Henriad.” Well, not everyone. Some people do. I’m going to. I like that word.
I like that Shakespeare’s characters rarely lie — or at least before they lie, the announce their intention to lie! People are constantly saying exactly what they think. They’d be good improvisers, these fictional characters. Except for the puns, which I never understand.
I’d love to film a couple of these scenes with UCB powerhouses filling up the roles. Someone make that happen.
I also jumped out of a plane this weekend but I honestly feel like describing that would be so obvious! You’re scared, you fall, you’re fine.
Comments
Time to dig up some college knowledge: the language was definitely understood completely by the audience, including all of the classical and historical allusions (and I don’t think it was Denis Miller-ish, either. People rally understood the references). This, in fact, was the one of the first times colloquial language was used in English-language theater.
And with respect to the comedy, the scripts we have today are really approximations of the bits the comic characters performed. Often there would be a lot of improvisation, including heckling by the audience and witty retorts by the players aimed at said hecklers. So the plays, as long as they are, were likely even longer when originally performed. And, if an audience member had a few extra shillings, he might get an orange and/or a hooker to really complete the experience.
I saw the Twelfth (woah i just had to google how to spell that) Night at the globe in London and though I didn’t follow most of it, it was really, really funny.
I’m a huge Orson Welle’s fan and became a huge Falstaff fan in college, so after reading Henry IV pts 1 & 2 and Henry V, I watched Welles’ Chimes at Midnight, also known as Falstaff.
He takes Falstaff’s exploits from those and Merry Wifes of Windsor and maybe some other stuff and he made a really amazing movie out of it. Welles is the most amazing Falstaff ever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOhq0AyRNjY
Congrats on your skydive – was it your first? I truly felt the experience after three tandems, a day in ground training and then a solo jump.
Made the world look different.
Come out and jump again in the spring!