“Why not Hamlet or Richard III or A Midsummer Night’s Dream or Much Ado About Nothing?” Salient questions, all posed to Sophia Chetin-Leuner, director of UCLU Drama Society’s rendering of Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part 1. In many ways, Henry IV Part 1 is the Shakespeare of the day, having been successfully staged by the Donmar’s all-female cast and the RSC’s two-part performance due to move to the Barbican in due course. Grappling with nigh impregnable Shakespearean language and plot, Chetin-Leuner has made a commendable effort at delivering a funny and engaging, albeit incongruously modern, adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s more taxing works.
Henry IV Part 1 is a derivative Shakespearean history, melding power and territorial conflicts with the all too needed light relief of the pantomime-esque side narrative. Attempting to understand the play’s complex arc is tantamount to laboriously wading through treacle. This is made unhelpfully worse by the apparent fluidity of the character’s names, which change quite happily from Harry to Prince Hal and only serves to further anchor your progress in dissecting the plot. In spite of this dur piece, UCLU’s student production and its shear professionalism aid in carrying the oblivious audience through the play’s various twists and turns, working in tandem with the programme’s much-needed synopsis outline.
The play’s central draw lies in the considerable number of strong performances it bears. It is always such an unheralded joy when a student ensemble captivates an audience, the command of the Shakespearean tongue and complexity being all too clear. Christian Hines gives an often mesmeric performance as Prince Hal, the king’s son, mastering both the character’s mischievousness and regal masculinity with masterful ease. Eddie-Joe Robinson is equally as strong as Hotspur, sinking his teeth wholeheartedly into his character’s angrily meaty dialogue. The comedic heart of play was carried more or less solely on the broad shoulders of Oliver Marsh, donning a fat suit as Falstaff, a character that consistently keeps the laughs coming. Pavlos Christodoulou’s performance as the eponymous Henry IV is somewhat less commanding, never quite being able to channel the strong authority of his character, but certainly looks the part as he strides around his office, barking orders at his inferiors.
Uprooting the play from its original setting, Chetin-Leuner has placed the play in 1940s London, to mixed effect. The displacement of its original context has made for a slick aesthetic and staging, the stage being divided between a mahogany-laced dictatorial office and a London pub. The play certainly looks great as a result and benefits from its more modern rendering. The adaptation does however seem somewhat separate from its material. There is no immediately obvious interaction with its new social and historical setting, making scraps of dialogue concerning men falling on their swords and riding to war seem odd and out of touch with the pinstriped suits and fedoras. The comparable tensions of 1940s London and fifteenth century Northumberland fell a little flat and I fear went over the audience’s head. Modern adaptations of Shakespeare can make for powerful and intriguing performances, but if it ain’t broke in the first place, it’s probably best not to fix it.
Watching Henry IV Part 1, it’s often difficult to believe that this is a student production, blocked, rehearsed and delivered in the space of a short month. The strength of the performances is commendably high, making up for the shortcomings of this lacklustre play. Though somewhat impeded by the occasional issue of visibility, the play churns out some great scenes, seeming to find its feet in the more comedic moments. It’s perhaps a shame that the play’s more modern setting failed to really come into its own, but thankfully this did not detract overly from its merits.
Henry IV Part 1 played the Bloomsbury Theatre. For more information see the Bloomsbury Theatre website.