Henry IV, Part 1

I saw all three Henrys as part of a tour by the English Shakespeare Company in the late 1980s. It was incredible – Michael Pennington was Hal, and John Woodvine was Falstaff. The supporting cast were stalwart players of the English stage and screen – period murderers, broad comedians, and of course, errant familiars of a certain Time Lord. It was one of the most inspiring productions I have ever seen. This first play in the cycle focuses largely on the irresponsible prince Hal, who consorts all over the place with the fat, old, cowardly, drunken, and dissolute knight, Sir John Falstaff. In the production I saw, John Woodvine’s Falstaff was a wonder of Shakespearean technique, which is to say, he was really, really, really funny. We loved it so much that we went round to the stage door after and told him how amazing we thought he was. It wasn’t until I was researching this project that I discovered Shakespeare had originally named the Falstaff character, ‘Sir John Oldcastle,’ after a real-life Sir John Oldcastle. From there, it was but the work of a moment, to tea-stain the plaster castle you see before you, bake it in the oven for a bit, and voila – my very own ‘old castle.’ For you, John Woodvine