Henry IV, Part 2 (1990, Michael Bogdanov) part 2 of 15

Shakespeare's "King Henry IV, Part 2" from "The War of the Roses" (English Shakespeare Company, UK, 1990) is a direct filming, from the stage, of Michael Bogdanov and Michael Pennington's 7-play sequence based on Shakespeare's history plays.


Falstaff - Barry Stanton
Falstaff's Page - John Tramper
Lord Chief Justice - Hugh Sullivan
Lord Mowbray - Michael Fenner
Lord Hastings - Jack Carr
Mistress Quickly - June Watson

Director Michael Bogdanov

From Charles Cowden Clarke's"Shakespeare-Characters" :

What bold impudence in that speech ! " If my wind were but long enough to say my prayers, I would repent." He also tells the Lord Chief-Justice—who he knows well enough knows him—that he "lost his voice with hallooing and singing of anthems." His impudence is sublime; and that very impudence forms no insignificant item in his humour: for the grand secret of Falstaff's wit, and humour too, consists in an impenetrable and imperturbable self-possession. He proposes Bardolph—one of his rogues, as known as the church-steeple—to the silk-mercer as security for his payment. He is never thrown off his guard; or, if so, he is never foiled: he recovers himself like a rope-dancer.

In the famous eleven buckram-men scene, when the tables are turned upon him, and his scouring-off laid bare, his resource is—" Do you think I did not know ye ? By the Lord, I knew ye as well as he that made ye." When his men, Pistol, Nym, and the rest, are accused before Justice Shallow of robbing Master Slender while he is drunk, Sir John takes upon himself to dismiss the charge against them with those remarkable words: "You hear all these matters denied, gentlemen:—you hear—the men deny it." ...

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"your wit Single"?

We call a man single-witted, who attains but one species of knowledge. This sense I know not how to apply to Falstaff; and rather think that the Chief Justice hints at a calamity always incident to a grey-hair'd wit, whole misfortune is, that his merriment is unfashionable. His allusions are to forgotten facts ; his illustrations are drawn from notions obscured by time ; his wit is therefore single, such as none has any part in but himself. --Samuel Johnson.

I believe all that Shakfpeare meant was, that he had more fat than wit; that though his body was bloated by intemperance to twice its original size, yet his wit was not increased in proportion to it. ---George Steevens

I think Mr. Steever.s's interpretation is the true one. Mr. Mafon also concurs with him, and observes that " though Falstff' had such a fund of wit and humour, it was not unnatural that a grave judge, whose thoughts were constantly employed about the business of life, should consider such an improvident disipated old man as single-witted at half-witted as we should now term it." --Maiohs

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Shakespeare
• King-Henry-IV
• 2H4
• Falstaff
• Barry-Stanton
• play
• theatre
• English-history

[mtigers1981]

You ARE going to put up the rest of this, right?