Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

Player Kings proves that Shakespeare can be funny

Plus: what a wise move of Eugene O’Neill to die before Long Day’s Journey Into Night was published

Ian McKellen as the noisy, swaggering dissembler Falstaff in Player Kings. Credit: Manuel Harlan  
issue 20 April 2024

Play-goers, beware. Director Robert Icke is back in town, and that means a turgid four-hour revival of a heavyweight classic with every actor screaming, bawling, weeping, howling and generally overdoing it. But here’s a surprise. Player Kings, Icke’s new version of Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, is a dazzling piece of entertainment and the only exaggerated performance comes from Sir Ian McKellen who plays Falstaff, quite rightly, as a noisy, swaggering dissembler.

Those who imagine ‘Shakespearean comedy’ to be an oxymoron will be pleasantly surprised

Small details deliver large dividends.

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