ABSTRACT
Trevor Nunn's production of the first part of Henry IV at the new Barbican Theatre, Henry IV is a particularly appropriate play to show off the communal talents of a company. The empty vastness of the Barbican stage for Shrewsbury Field where they can be used, as they loom menacingly forward from the darkened wings, to suggest huge siege engines in the battle. Contrast between the bustling crowdedness of Eastcheap and sparsely populated austerity of the court is epitomized in the performances of Patrick Stewart as Bolingbroke and Joss Ackland as Falstaff, father and surrogate father in conflict for the loyalty of Prince Hal. Mr. Ackland's is not a sentimental Falstaff: the hard edge of the man is there too, the ambition, the intelligence and agility of mind. Finally, there is the Shallow of Robert Eddison, and perhaps finally somewhat too sympathetic Northumberland.
