All You Need To Know About Henry IV, part 1

It's a great time to be a long-distance Shakespeare fan, what with the National Theatre and now the Royal Shakespeare Company broadcasting performances to theatres around the world. This week the RSC is broadcasting their current production of Henry IV, part 1, starring Antony Sher as Falstaff and Alex Hassell as Prince Hal. To celebrate, here is a quick guide to (almost) all you need to know to appreciate the play!

That's... actually a really small death total for a history play. That practically makes this a comedy.

Check out my other Henry IV related strips here!

What Happens to the Fool?

It's the question on everybody's lips: What happens to Lear's Fool?

Did I miss a particularly good Fool theory? How was the Fool disposed of in the Lears you've seen? Drop me a note in the comments or via Twitter or Facebook. If I've missed any good ones, I'll add them to this graphic.

Remember to check out the rest of my King Lear comics here. Tune in again on Wednesday as I start tackling Act Four!

A Stick-Figure King Lear: Act 3, Scene 7

King Lear
Dramatis Personae | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5
2.1 | 2.2, part 1 | 2.2, part 2
3.1 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 3.6 | 3.7

The Story So Far: After escorting the raving King Lear and his entourage of sane, semi-sane, and insane people to shelter, the Earl of Gloucester overhears a plot against Lear's life. Against Regan and Cornwall's orders, he sends them towards Dover, where the French army led by Cordelia has landed. 

There are many references to eyes in King Lear, and they all lead up to this infamous scene. This is one of the scenes that gets waved around when people say "Oooh, Shakespeare is boring."  Boring, is it? Boring? How about a nice old man getting his eyes gouged out on stage? ARE YOU STILL BORED? 

There are many massively quotable lines in King Lear: "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child", "Blow winds and crack your cheeks", etc. However, the one I always like to quote is Cornwall's "Out, vile jelly! Where is thy lustre now?" If you're creative, you can find lots of uses for it, the most obvious being when you're making a sandwich and run out of spreadable fruit preserves.

That's all for Act 3! Tune in on Monday, when we'll take a short break to check in on a disappearing character before plunging on into Act 4. 

King Lear

Dramatis Personae | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5
2.1 | 2.2, part 1 | 2.2, part 2
3.1 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 3.6 | 3.7

A Stick-Figure King Lear: Act 3, Scene 6

King Lear
Dramatis Personae | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5
2.1 | 2.2, part 1 | 2.2, part 2
3.1 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 3.6

The Story So Far: Against the orders of Regan and the Duke of Cornwall, the Earl of Gloucester has found the mad old King Lear wandering around outside in a storm, and has brought him, his Fool, the disguised Earl of Kent, and the madman Poor Tom (actually Gloucester's son Edgar in disguise) to shelter. 

You have to feel sorry for Kent. The guy is just trying to do the right thing and look after his king, and where does he end up? Stuck in a shack with a crazy old man, a mud-covered madman, and a jester who keeps spouting apparent non sequiturs at random. I'm always surprised that Kent doesn't go insane. I certainly would.

This scene, incidentally, is generally presented as a composite between the Folio text and the Quarto text. As I've mentioned before, the text I'm working with is based on the Folio, which excludes the mock-trial of Goneril the Joint-Stool, but I edited it back in here because it's too fun to miss. 

Stop by again on Friday for the eye-popping conclusion to Act 3! 

King Lear
Dramatis Personae | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5
2.1 | 2.2, part 1 | 2.2, part 2
3.1 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 3.6

A Stick-Figure King Lear: Act 3, Scene 5

King Lear
Dramatis Personae | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5
2.1 | 2.2, part 1 | 2.2, part 2
3.1 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 3.6

The Story So Far: The Earl of Gloucester has gone to rescue King Lear, who is wandering around outside in a storm, shouting a lot. Little does he know that his bastard son Edmund is plotting to betray him...

I'm pretty sure the Duke of Cornwall isn't fooled by Edmund's protestations of regret for one moment. Cornwall is figuratively a bastard, so he probably knows one when he sees one. 

Stop by again on Wednesday, when we'll check back in with Lear to see how he's doing. (SPOILER ALERT: He's still busy losing his proverbial marbles.)

King Lear
Dramatis Personae | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5
2.1 | 2.2, part 1 | 2.2, part 2
3.1 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 3.6

A Stick-Figure King Lear: Act 3, Scene 4

King Lear
Dramatis Personae | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5
2.1 | 2.2, part 1 | 2.2, part 2
3.1 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 3.6

The Story So Far: After quarreling with his elder daughters, Lear has run out onto the heath (a wide-open shrubby sort of landscape) in the middle of a huge storm. Clearly off his rocker and accompanied only by the long-suffering Fool, he rants and raves until Kent finds him and tries to persuade him to take shelter.

Meanwhile, Regan and Cornwall, who have taken command of the Earl of Gloucester's castle, have expressly forbidden anyone from helping the old, insane, and now wet ex-king.

Here we finally meet Edgar, in his role as Poor Tom, in all his muddy, half-naked glory. In order to escape his father's misplaced wrath, Edgar has chose to disguise himself as a beggar. That's all well and good, but the lengths to which Edgar goes in his disguise are rather extraordinary. He throws himself whole-heartedly into his part and comes up with HUGE rambling "mad" speeches. I worry about Edgar sometimes.

This scene also features the famous "Off, off, you lendings!" bit where Lear takes off his clothes in the middle of a storm. It's one of the directorial flashpoints of King Lear - just how many clothes does Lear take off? Several acclaimed productions in recent memory, notably Ian Holm's 1997 production and Ian McKellen's 2007 production, have had Lear drop his trousers in a most emphatic and thorough manner, revealing literally all to the elements.

I was fortunate enough to see Ian McKellen perform Lear while on tour in Singapore. For better or worse, nudity on the stage was not permitted, and thus I never got to see Sir Ian's bare, forked animal.

Dear old Gloucester. He always tries to do the right thing, but he's sometimes as thick as a brick wall. Here he bumps into not one but two disguised acquaintances - his friend Kent and his son Edgar - and, despite being reminded of them enough to bring them up in conversation, he totally fails to recognize either of them. 

Get some glasses, Gloucester! You clearly have bad eyesight. For the moment, anyways.

That's all for this week! Join me again on Monday, when we'll check in with Edmund again and see how his plans for world domination are progressing.

King Lear
Dramatis Personae | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5
2.1 | 2.2, part 1 | 2.2, part 2
3.1 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 3.6

All You Need To Know About King Lear

Today the National Theatre is live-broadcasting their current production of King Lear, starring Simon Russel Beale, to cinemas all over the world. For any of my readers who haven't seen or read King Lear yet, I have attempted to summarize all the important parts here without spoiling anything. 

Remember to check out my on-going King Lear scene-by-scene summaries here!