Henry IV, Part 2
(An Age of Kings, Episode 5: “The New Conspiracy”, and Episode 6: “Uneasy Lies the Head”)
1960: Michael Hayes

The fifth and sixth episodes from the 1960 BBC series An Age of Kings together make up Henry IV, Part 2.

Like most of the plays in this historically interesting series, this has been boiled down to two one-hour episodes. While the result is necessarily truncated, it preserves more of the dialogue than similar recent reductions (The Hollow Crown being an obvious comparandum), because very little time is spent on scene-setting or gratuitous stage business. As with the original plays, the focus is chiefly on the language. A few scenes are regrettably truncated: in particular the final confrontation of Hal — now the king, but not yet crowned — with the Chief Justice; it’s a scene that feels currently very timely, presenting a head of state who still believes that it is needful to accede to the law.

The production values are standard for 1960 black and white television, adequate for the small screen; the transfer to DVD leaves the image a little fuzzier than one might want. For all that, however, the acting is creditable at a minimum, and occasionally great. Robert Hardy continues with his role of Prince Hal, for which he is arguably too old, but these are basically stage productions, which are a deal more forgiving in that respect.

It is in the acting that this whole series excels; it is not only an exemplary rendition of most of the roles in the history sequence, but also a valuable document of acting conventions in the late middle portion of the twentieth century. It was an age in which the overt dramatic content of the script was taken seriously without an obligatory overlay of irony.

The character and plot focus of this particular play is always a bit problematic: a good deal of the action involves the Eastcheap set, with Falstaff, Mistress Quickly, Doll Tearsheet, and Ancient Pistol in the first part, and with Shallow and Silence in the latter half, but, while it is amusing, it doesn’t seem to go anywhere very purposeful, other than revealing the breadth of corruption in the society throughout. Most of the rest of the plot is a relatively mechanical exposition of a conspiracy and revolution that arises from the King’s corner-cutting, and is put down by almost Machiavellian hair-splitting by Prince Hal’s younger brother, John of Lancaster.

At the end, Henry IV dies and Prince Hal succeeds him, and the bulk of the interest in the play converges here. Two scenes near the end of the play carry the greatest dramatic weight. In one, Prince Hal somewhat prematurely takes the crown from the bed of his dying father, and is chided for it, after which he makes his peace with his father just before he dies. In the second, Hal — now King Henry V — encounters Falstaff during his coronation, and repudiates and banishes him. Very little follows on this that mitigates the severity of the ending, and we’re forced to look at Henry V to try to determine (even then it isn’t obvious) what course Hal’s course will ultimately take.

Robert Hardy plays the role of Hal with finesse and style, and he leaves open most of the troubling ambiguities in the character. Frank Pettingell carries forward the role of Falstaff to its destined conclusion. Tom Fleming brings more than the usual burden of haunted guilt to his role as the weakened and dying king, and his performance is worth noting. Even the minor parts are carried off with good effect.

This remains a valuable contribution to the available collection of historic performances of the play, and is better than many.

Buy the BBC series An Age of Kings at Amazon. This is the black and white series made for television in 1960, containing both tetralogies of Shakespeare’s histories: Richard II, Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2, Henry V, Henry VI, Part 1, Henry VI, Part 2, Henry VI, Part 3, and Richard III.