Henry IV – Part I: Royal Shakespeare Company DVD Classical (2015) Jasper Britton

Description

Press Reviews

“Shakespeare’s two greatest plays have always been a defining experience for RSC directors. Gregory Doran now puts his decisive seal on the company by offering a production that, like last year’s Richard II, combines richness of texture with psychological insight. It also contains a major performance from Antony Sher as Falstaff.
” (The Guardian )
“Performed on the mighty thrust stage of the RSC’s main house in Stratford, the productions have an admirably assured grasp of the plays’ panoramic sweep, moving with fluency and a fine feel for thematic counterpoint between care-racked court and lax, frowsty Eastcheap, boozer and battlefield, urban and pastoral.
Sher is surrounded by a crack companyamongst whom I particularly enjoyed Paola Dionisotti’s Dot Cotton-like take on Mistress Quickly and the Shallow and Silence combo of Oliver Ford Davies and Jim Hooper who sublimely blend fathomless gloom and mad merriment. Strongly recommended.” (The Independent )
“What a walloping spectacle the Royal Shakespeare Company gives us with its two Henry IV plays. They are staged in the expansive manner, the acting fruity, the lighting full of oranges and blues.
” (The Daily Mail )
“He has played Richard III, Shylock, Leontes, Macbeth and Prospero to huge acclaim. But can Sir Antony Sher, one of our most Shakespeare-steeped theatrical knights, give us a Falstaff to remember? …. The answer is yes. A benign grin plastered on his rubicund face, this big-bearded, pot-bellied knave is first seen emerging from the bedclothes under which Alex Hassell’s lusty Harry has been romping with two maids.
” (The Daily Telegraph )
“Visually Greg Doran’s new production is a treat. A great interpretation.” (What’s On Stage )
“Antony Sher is an insatiable and ebullient Falstaff. It’s a performance that combines clarity and complexity – fruity, throaty, here and there a little overripe but always generous and detailed. He captures the warmth of Shakespeare’s famously flawed knight – his delight in excess, blustering vitality and sparks of youthful exuberance. And even when he’s at his most outrageous, Sher’s Falstaff wears the expression of an affronted storyteller who can’t quite believe that we don’t find him winningly modest.” (The Evening Standard )
“Opening in the run-up to the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth, these productions are a real treat: intelligent, accessible and superbly performed. Sher’s Falstaff is a joy, but the same can be said about so much of both these productions.” (The Stage)
Cast
Jasper Britton (Henry IV)
Antony Sher (Falstaff)
Alex Hassell (Hal)
Trevor White(Hotspur)
Sean Chapman(Earl of Northumberland/Earl of Douglas )
Youssef Kerkour(Earl of Westmoreland )
Elliot Barnes-Worrell (Prince John)
Stage Director: Gregory Doran
Designer: Stephen Brimson Lewis
Catalogue Number: OA1162D
Date of Performance: 2014
Running Time: 168 minutes
Sound: LPCM & DTS Master Audio 5.1
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Anamorphic
Subtitles: EN/FR/DE
Label: Opus Arte