New Staging of ‘Henry IV’ at Brooklyn’s Theatre for a New Audience Offers an Immersive Experience With Some of the Bard’s Great Characters

Imagine sitting so close to one of Shakespeare’s most colorful and beloved characters, Sir John Falstaff, that you can hear his labored breathing. That’s the lucky position I found myself in at a recent preview of a new staging of “Henry IV,” featuring an adaptation by an actor, director, and playwright, Dakin Matthews.First staged at New York 22 years ago, Mr. Matthews’s version condenses the Bard’s two separate plays that follow the titular monarch and his son, Prince Hal, into one piece, clocking in at roughly three hours and 45 minutes. In the 2003 production, at Lincoln Center Theater, Falstaff — the deliciously dissolute old codger who cavorts with young Hal, at least until the latter gets his act together — was played by Kevin Kline.In the new staging, at Brooklyn’s Theatre for a New Audience, the role falls to Jay O. Sanders, a character actor who has been delighting New York audiences for nearly 50 years. Like the other players in this intimate production, directed by Eric Tucker, Mr. Sanders makes his entrances and exits through the audience, which surrounds the small stage on four sides. Viewers in the first row are virtually at eye level with the performers on stage.Some cast members, in fact, scatter about the orchestra section at points, while others lurk just behind it, changing costumes or waiting for their cues — always in character. Jimmy Stubbs’s minimal scenic design and Nicole E. Lang’s aggressive lighting, which uses twinkling Christmas bulbs and bright fluorescent slabs, add to the immersive feel as Mr. Tucker takes us from the court of Henry IV, played by Mr. Matthews himself, to the meeting quarters of the rebels poised against him, to the London tavern that hosts Falstaff, Hal, and their motley crew. Steven Epp as Earl of Worcester and James Udom as Henry Percy (Hotspur). Gerry GoodsteinThe result is a taut, vigorously entertaining affair, in which many of the performers shine while juggling disparate parts. James Udom is a standout, bringing a muscular dignity to Harry “Hotspur” Percy, the noble young rebel who becomes Hal’s rival, then preening hilariously in the far less prominent role of Pistol, a chicken-hearted soldier.Cara Ricketts is elegant and fierce as Hotspur’s wife, Lady Percy, then slides with luscious ease into the shoes of Doll Tearsheet, the tempestuous working girl who holds court at the tavern. Sandra Shipley deftly shifts from Mistress Quickly, the pub’s bawdy and malapropism-prone manager, to Lady Northumberland, Hotspur’s mother, to the Archbishop of York.Steven Epp shows particular dexterity and distinction in his three roles, which include the scheming, duplicitous Earl of Worcester, Hotspur’s uncle, who seals his nephew’s doom at Hal’s hands. Mr. Epp brings an eerily delicate, almost mincing menace to the character, but then proves a charming and ultimately poignant buffoon as Francis, Falstaff’s page; the actor gets another, albeit smaller vehicle for his comic prowess as Silence, cousin and colleague to Justice Robert Shallow, who’s just as funny in John Keating’s dry, daft portrait.The comedic star of “Henry IV” is, of course, Falstaff, and Mr. Sanders could not be better suited to the part, either physically or in the girth of his talent. Lumbering about the stage, and off it, the celebrated trouper summons the full expressive powers of his broad face and body, as well as his finely tuned wit, for a performance that’s exuberant and, at the very end, heartbreaking.The heartbreak, of course, arises from Falstaff’s relationship with Hal, who must eventually forsake his debauched companion. Playing the heir to the throne, Elijah Jones can seem jarringly contemporary in contrast with most of the others — Jordan Bellow is an exception as Ned Poins, Hal’s partner in youthful mischief — but Mr. Jones gains gravitas as his character does.There will be purists who carp, as a few did when Mr. Matthews’s adaptation had its premiere, that Shakespeare can’t be fully appreciated in an abridged form. It’s worth noting, though, that the Lincoln Center production marked the first time “Henry IV” had been presented on Broadway in any capacity in more than 130 years; it’s good to have it back nearby, and in such high spirits.

New Staging of ‘Henry IV’ at Brooklyn’s Theatre for a New Audience Offers an Immersive Experience With Some of the Bard’s Great Characters

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