Friday, May 2, 2014

Shakespeare in DC

Last night, I was treated to dinner and a Shakespeare play by one of my college classmates.  Friendship's links may ne'er be broken, as our alma mater says.  The play was Henry IV Part II
and it was presented at the Washington Shakespeare Theater, in their new building, the Harman Center:


Now, the history plays are not my favorites, and of the history plays, Henry IV Part II is not ( in my opinion) as good as Henry IV Part I , or Henry V, or Richard III.  However, I will take Shakespeare any day of the week, any way I can get him!

The set was fascinating and inventive, and though some of the actors were too shrill or talked too fast ( again, my opinion), some of them were very good indeed, notably Stacy Keach as Falstaff:


here he is, with Maggie Kettering as Doll Tearsheet - I love that name!

I noted a few thought-provoking lines from this play:





 In Act III, Scene I:


"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown".



and this ,in Act III, from one of the lesser characters, Feeble:



    A man can die but once; — we owe God a death.
      



Enough said.

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