Shakespeare: Henry IV Part 2 (Opus Arte: OA1077D) [DVD] [NTSC] [2010]

I caught this on television by chance - and am going to get the DVD the moment it's released. It was a total revelation.

Many years ago, I was was a schoolboy (with fresh-scrubbed morning face, who crept snail-like unwillingly to school - natch) who spent several hours in purgatorial tedium as we dissected this play. What we were never told, however, was that Henry IV is FUNNY. Honestly; laugh-out-loud funny. And it's not just slapstick and sight gags grafted onto the Bard's words - the laughs were right there in the text all along; either directly or implied. Shakespeare has Falstaff enter and say, "Empty the jordan." Not very promising on the page - but when you SEE him make his entrance and deliver his line...

On reflection, the reason for this is obvious. Shakespeare didn't write his plays to be read; he wrote them to be performed. There is a world of difference. Similarly, there is a world of difference between dusty textual analysis in the classroom, and the sheer joy of seeing the play come to life on the stage. I really would like to track down my old teachers and explain this to them with the assistance of a variety of blunt objects.

This production was filmed live at London's Globe Theatre. It is performed with vigour, relish and inventiveness - and in period costume, which is just right for a period stage. There is not a weak performance in the production, but two actors must be singled out.

First, William Gaunt as Justice Shallow - an elderly rural justice of the peace, one step shy of senility, but who hasn't quite let ambition die in him; and who remembers with nostalgia the wilder days of his youth. His (on the page) insignificant remarks to Falstaff's page - well, perhaps there was a reason why my teachers didn't explain that bit.

And above all, Roger Allam as Falstaff; the riotous and incorrigible bon-viveur who simply refuses to grow old respectably. He dominates the stage whenever he's on it; a mountain of good cheer and bawdy humour - until his last scene where he dissolves into almost heart-rending pathos.

If, like me, you hated Shakespeare at school, yet are still curious as to why such a fuss is still made of him - this DVD is your answer.

Instead of standing for over three hours or sitting on uncomfortable wooden benches, cursing every helicopter overhead that forced Allam or Parker to pause in their phantastic speeches this recording is a simple must have for Shakespeare fans.Cannot wait to see it again. Allam received an Olivier Award for his performance deservedly.

Es sencillamente excelente, tanto el audio como el video. Una obra maestra, uno se siente como si estuviera en el Globe, disfrutando del espectáculo.