Tag Archives: Henry IV part 2

King Charles III, Shakespeare, and coronations

We are as sure as we can be that Shakespeare experienced the coronation of King James 1. In his pamphlet The Time Triumphant Gilbert Dugdale described the triumphal procession in London on 15 March 1604, which included the King’s Men … Continue reading

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Antony Sher playing Shakespeare’s fat knight

The Radio 4 Book of the Week beginning on 4 May 2015 was Antony Sher’s  Year of the Fat Knight: the Falstaff Diaries, his account of  the process of preparing for and performing Falstaff in Henry IV parts 1 and … Continue reading

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Cakes, ale and hearing the chimes at midnight

Last weekend we remembered, again, the birthday of William Shakespeare. In Stratford tradition is important, so the boys of Shakespeare’s school still head the procession as they have done for over a century. The celebration is also a birthday party, … Continue reading

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Safeguarding the “first rough draft of history”

Newspapers are a relatively new invention: no character in a Shakespeare play ever reads one, news being conveyed by messenger or letter. In The Merchant of Venice Tubal brings a personal account to Shylock of the misfortunes of Antonio’s ship “I … Continue reading

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Falstaff and the loss of Merrie England

This week Sir Antony Sher takes on the role of one of Shakespeare’s most famous characters, Sir John Falstaff, in the first of the Henry IV plays, for the RSC. It’s a role that has attracted many of the greatest … Continue reading

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Making a statement with tapestry in Tudor England

Watching part of the BBC’s current Tudor season I was enjoying the first part of Jonathan Foyle’s examination of  Henry’s rule: Henry VIII: patron or plunderer when he got to the tapestries decorating Hampton Court Palace. The expert commented that … Continue reading

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Michael Attenborough and Shakespeare

Last week Stratford’s Shakespeare Club was lucky enough to be given a look into internationally-renowned director Michael Attenborough’s views of Shakespeare. Attenborough is currently Artistic Director of the Almeida Theatre in London, though he is resigning from that post after … Continue reading

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Seeing Shakespeare inside-out at the British Shakespeare Association conference

At the end of the week I’m going to the British Shakespeare Association’s Conference at Lancaster University.  The three-day conference runs from 24-26 February and is on the theme of Shakespeare Inside-Out: Depth/Surface/Meaning. A host of lectures, seminars and practical … Continue reading

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Robin Hood and Shakespeare

A new play by David Farr, called The Heart of Robin Hood, is just about to open at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The legend of Robin Hood is a great subject for the RSC as it was obviously a story … Continue reading

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Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor: Shakespeare’s Lost Years

This week’s Start the Week on BBC Radio 4, broadcast on 4 July, asked how much we need to know about writers’ lives in order to fully appreciate their works. Contributors included a specialist on the medieval poet Dante and … Continue reading

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