Player Kings @ Noel Coward Theatre, London
When a National Treasurer plays a Shakespearean National Treasure!
Sir Ian McKellen is Falstaff, in full slobber and greed mode to begin with, along with literal wannabe player king Prince Hal (Toheeb Jimoh). In immense padding, I love how all his movements are impacted and even how he holds himself in a lop-sided slump when at attention! He’s a great garrulous storyteller or liar (depending on how you pov things), spinning credulous, improbable yarns and scams to his glory. (Whilst doing and being the opposite to comic effect).
Toheeb Jimoh brings great energy to Prince Hal, as well as thoughtfulness, strategy, amusement — and eventually betrayal of his friend as he attains power. A conflict visualised for him at the very end of the play as he’s hemmed in by the trappings of his office. Richard Coyle as Prince Hal’s reigning dad brings such nuance to the role, that I didn’t want him to go. Even in his illness, he fills the stage with his pain, suffering and moving decline.
Employing filmic techniques, we get a stage version of split screen with Team King/Westminster on the phone to unruly Team Northumberland. Dance music is effectively used to promote the endless partying and decadence of Team Hal. Throughout, we get projected updates of who is who, and the timeframe of events. Curtains pulled and opened also move us swiftly from scene to scene. Samuel Edward-Cook spits fire as a raging Hotspur, yet is also sweetly tender when talking with his wife. Joseph Mydell as the dignified Lord Chief Justice was marvellous, especially when paired with Sir Ian, and I loved every minute he was on stage, wanting him to stay for longer.
What the production did especially well was to make all the scenes between multiple characters relevant, rather than just full of obscure word-play and banter. Clare Perkins’ Mistress Quickly was tremendous, full of vigour, intelligence and strength. Though I was shocked to see that she was not the object of Falstaff’s affections — but Doll Cutpurse!
Highlighting the tension in the play, we surge through the battlefield as Hotspur keeps encountering and bloodily dispatching decoy ‘Kings’. Sir Walter Blunt’s (Hywel Morgan) demise was really well utilised — even as his corpse was carried off stage on a stretcher at the end of Falstaff’s ‘reveal’ of his battle prowess!
Perhaps we lose the historical sweep of how Prince Hal became Henry V, although there is a prescient moment when he discusses making war on France. The focus is much more on the Prince with his friends and father’s enemies, and how those friends get set aside.
We see great friends moved apart by changes in power and status, and Prince Hal’s public rejection of his roistering friend stings and moves. Overall this is a whole cast work — everyone plays strongly and well, and you’re drawn in. However, this is culture which calls for stamina — to focus, to literally lean in. So check your leg room and view before you go! If you end up in the balcony the actors heads are cut off by the set, making them alarmingly disembodied, and the glow of illegal phone usage starts to grate. But the closer you are to the stage, the more you can be almost a part of the action as actors sit and lie on a second part of the stage.
However, National Treasure that he is, Sir Ian’s Falstaff plays to the whole house — and you never feel dismissed. As he is by Prince Hal.
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