Saturday In The Recliner With Falstaff

Week Two of Shakespearean Saturdays continued the journey through The Hollow Crown.  Today's episode was Henry IV, Part I.  As with last weekend's edition, Richard II, this was a thoroughly enjoyable couple of hours marked by terrific performances and stunning cinematography.

Of the four Shakespearean works comprising The Hollow Crown, this is the one with which I am most familiar.  My first exposure with it goes back to senior year of high school.  One of the English courses that year was a short elective on Shakespeare.  I Henry IV was the history included in the three-play curriculum (one from each column--tragedy, comedy, and history).  It was my introduction to the character of Falstaff, one of The Bard's greatest creations.  It would not be my last scholastic interaction with Sir John, but more on that another time.

Reading a Shakespearean play leaves one to imagine the visual presentation--sets, costumes, casting.  I don't recall if we ever watched the play during that long-ago high school class.  This version of I Henry IV fits perfectly with Shakespeare's words.  Everything about it is entirely believable; the word suits the action and the action, the word.

Jeremy Irons stars in the title role.  He carries a very regal bearing in his performance as the king trying to hold his nation together while barely able to control his own family.  Tom Hiddleston as Hal plays the royal scalawag wonderfully.  At one moment the fun-loving tavern denizen while in the next leading his troops into battle, he captures the balanced personality of Hal.  Joe Armstrong as Hotspur certainly fits the name--a hot head constantly wound tightly.

Special recognition must go to Simon Russell Beale as Falstaff.  He portrays Falstaff grossly without grossly portraying him.  The costume design adds perfectly to Falstaff as a sack-loving mound of flesh.  A larger-than-life Shakespearean creation (in more than one sense), Beale nails the humanity of Falstaff without turning him into self-parody.  It is a joy to watch.

A highlight of the Shakespearean play becomes a highlight of the film:  the tavern scene in which Falstaff plays Hal while Hal plays King Henry.  Hiddleston's impression of Jeremy Irons is a delight.  Watching Falstaff as Hal, I could not help but be reminded of Chris Farley's "Fat Guy in a Little Coat" routine from the film Tommy Boy.  The similarity is striking!  Comedy aside, the scene illustrates the admiration Falstaff and Hal have for each other (which makes what is to come in the next chapter more saddening).

The camera work is well done throughout, especially at the climactic battle of Shrewsbury.  The grey color scheme helps to illustrate the cold enveloping the two armies.  Quick edits lend to the chaotic feel of the battle, although it is at times difficult to see what exactly is happening.  And the mud!  The battleground turns into a foul mess, and it is on full display as troops fall and roll around in the muck.

Early in the film (and play), Hal comments: 

"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, / And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents" (I,ii,198-201).

This line finds special meaning in our present world.  Far too many people find themselves trapped in a perpetual, home-bound "holiday," and work (and sport, for that matter) may be what is wished for.  For others, work has become the daily horror with a holiday as a distant dream.  Hopefully the world will right itself sooner rather than later!

Halfway home in the trip through The Hollow Crown.  I'll look to be back at it next Saturday in the same recliner and with the same Sir John.