THE CRUCIBLE Selfie from Sam D.

            In the midst of The Crucible by Arthur Miller is the feeling of fear and insecurity. The entire town is enslaved to the idea put forth by one small group, and it escalates into something much larger. Although the text and acting conveys this idea well enough on its own, the set and scene transitions played a large part in creating the eerie atmosphere of the town and of the idea of uncertainty.

            As the audience filed into the theatre, the most obvious thing about the set to me was the fog. The fog machines were on for a good portion of the half-hour before the play began, and the fog itself was kept just thin enough to be able to see through it, but thick enough for it to be noticeably there. By the time the intermission rolled around, most of it had dissipated, but the machines started up again and kept the fog for the first scene of the second act. In literature, fog is often used as a metaphor for something that is unclear, and as the play centers on the question of whether the girls of Salem are telling the truth, it was a very telling introduction before any of the actors even stepped onto the stage. Even the thickness of the fog was a clue: it was clear enough for the truth to be visible, but it was still just dense enough for one to argue that the opposite might be true. This reminded me of how the girls of Salem pull the wool over the men’s eyes as they continue their act to get Goody Proctor, John Proctor, and a large number of others killed. The men had multiple opportunities to see what was really going on, especially when John Proctor presented his case to the court, but they chose not to and instead continued listening to the girls.

            The set and stage itself also added to the feeling of insecurity. The stage elements were all painted gray, and there were some pieces of gray cloth hung precariously on some of the taller parts of the stage. The color gray itself is an ambiguous color; it is not as straightforward as black or white and lands somewhere in between the two. Many of the townspeople do the same. They don’t want to believe that there is witchcraft in their town, but they also don’t have another explanation for what has been happening there. Also, the elements of the stage were in less than pristine condition. Although they had been painted, the wood was rough, and the pieces of cloth reminded me of dust covers on furniture from an attic that hadn’t been explored in years. The old feel compares to the townspeople, who are somewhat set in their ways, but it also contrasts to the new ideas of witch hunts that were gaining popularity in Europe. Whereas their religion is an old one, the idea of witch hunting is new and exciting to them and seems to be the perfect solution to their problem. In addition, the play was done in the round, so there were audience members on all sides of the stage. Because of this, I felt as though I was actually a member of the Salem community and had to decide for myself whether the “witches” were really witches at all. It felt as though we, not the actors, were the council deciding their fate, and I definitely felt the uncertainty that the townspeople must be going through.

            The transitions between scenes added to the insecurity of the town, as well. When the set needed changing, the entire cast walked out and slowly carried the props and furniture off the stage. The light was similar to that of the fog; it was bright enough to see what was going on, but dark enough to keep it from being the center of attention. The strangeness of it, however, was the way that the props were carried off. The cast that wasn’t on stage during the previous scene walked in, looking straight forward, and synchronously lifted whatever prop they were assigned to. Then, all together, they turned toward the exit and carried them off stage. This not only tells about the way the community works, but also about how uncertain they may be. The synchronized walking is obviously used to represent how the town works together and functions as a community; they know what they are required to do, and they do it the same way everyone else does. If any of them have any question about the events that are happening, they don’t show it. Although some members of the community might have doubts about the witch hunting, they still go along with it, because to disagree might mean to be accused of witchcraft themselves. They are trying to return their daily lives to the way they used to be before the “witchcraft” started.

            The Crucible shows how a community can be overtaken by uncertainty and the desire to solve a problem, even if the townspeople aren’t sure that they agree with the solution. I felt as though I were in the middle of the decision making and that the fog was clouding my vision as it did to the men on the council in an attempt to keep daily life as normal as possible. The set and transitions demonstrate this without the actors needing to speak a word, and they add another layer to the already complex functions of the town and the feelings of the townspeople.

THE CRUCIBLE Selfie from Kaley B.

The moment I opened the door of the Old Vic Theatre, I headed straight toward the poster display and then excitedly bounced into the theatre with a picture of John Proctor under my arm and a program clutched in my hand. Granted, I knew little about the play I was about to see besides that it dealt with the Salem witch trials, but I had an intuition that this production of The Crucible would be emotionally jarring and undeniably brilliant. Perhaps this feeling was also encouraged by the fact that my inner-fan girl could hardly wait to see Richard Armitage onstage. I sat down in one of the seats that encircled an arena stage that was surrounded with proscenium architecture, which had been transformed to create space for audience members. The floor was set with empty chairs soon to be filled with the “defendants” who would make or break the theatrical experience ahead. The theatre had transformed into a courtroom. I was the judge and this play was on trial by fire. Thanks to an ingenious artistic team, my preemptive anticipations were not disappointed, and my sensory response to the pre-show staging led seamlessly into the story of John Proctor’s struggle with moral responsibility and Elizabeth Proctor’s battle with judicial authority as the Salem law began to pass judgments on sins of the soul.

As a down-to-earth man who is familiar with unbounded emotion but is self-bound to God’s moral law, Proctor experiences the disastrous results of a jury holding legal power that scrutinizes and categorizes every part of human life. Reverend Parris tries to control his congregation by emphasizing the seriousness of sin, and the local court reinforces his tactics by punishing private sins in public. But when Proctor, spurred by loneliness and lust, commits adultery with his servant girl, Abigail Williams, he needs neither church authority or the court to awaken his conscience to the gravity of his sin. Although his reputation in the town remains spotless, he is bitterly aware of his folly and cannot forgive himself. As Elizabeth remarks, “the magistrate sits in your heart that judges you.” Elizabeth remains loyal to her husband, but no longer trusts even his most sincere efforts to please her and quietly rejects the kiss he offers her after entering their home from a long day of toil. While Proctor is convinced that his honor is permanently soiled, he continues to fiercely long for his wife’s trust and defends his Christian faith as sincere. When he realizes that he could expose Abigail’s deceit in order to save the women being convicted as witches, he is loath to do so because his guilty conscience tells him that his quality as a witness has been degraded. Yet when her malicious accusations impact his own home, his duty to his wife gives him clear obligations. In the witch trials of Salem, an entire life of morality could be overlooked on the grounds of a single accusation. John holds himself to a moral code that punishes solitary mistakes, which is why he feels such a heavy burden of guilt over his adultery. Yet his sense of right and wrong demands that he defend goodness even if he himself is not always righteous. Proctor is forced to push beyond his own shame order to maintain loyalty to the things that are truly important to him, such as his wife and his good name.

Although the stage presents scenes set in familiar, everyday areas such as bedrooms and kitchens, the mysterious lighting and the ritualistic preciseness of the choreographed blocking gave a dangerous, cultic quality to the action. The staging revealed how everyday activities can take on a dark quality when seen from a particular vantage point. The play constantly asks the audience to determine who is worthy of donning the black robes of judgment when a man or woman’s private life is held up for scrutiny. While areas of faith and practice are regulated to the private sector in modern America, Salem authorities felt that a Christian society should regulate the public’s morality. When Elizabeth is condemned because Abigail accuses her of witchcraft, the debate becomes Elizabeth’s word against Abigail. Abigail’s evidence is abstract and unable to be confirmed by anyone except for herself. Yet the appeal of her allegations is fueled by the intensity of the production and ambiance of the set. Many of the scenes begin with women performing an everyday task such as lighting a fire or carrying a jug of water. The audience, along with the judges in the Salem courts, had been taken from the courtroom and placed on the hearth. In Elizabeth’s trial, the accuser possesses all the power. Elizabeth will look guilty if she refuses to answer the court’s summons and yet cannot hope to be proven innocent. The court acts as if they can read man’s hearts and make judgments on deeds that should only be condemned before the throne of God. Though Elizabeth suffers under an unjust accusation, she realizes that it is wrong for a man to pass a verdict on the moral state of another human being. When asked to condemn John as a lecher, she denies his accusation because of her loyalty to her husband and conviction that it is not her place to condemn another’s private sins. Through a twisted attempt to uphold morality, the court ends up condemning sacrificial confession and faithfulness to a spouse. As John Proctor angrily deplores, “You bring down heaven and raise up a whore!”

I entered the theatre as an enthusiast and left the playhouse as a pupil. Though the stage created the atmosphere of a courtroom, an appearance of authority did not validate the judgments passed therein. The Crucible demonstrated that failure to distinguish between what should be punished by law and what should be punished by God can lead to tragedies where goodness is fatally disfigured by the evil tongue of fools endowed with the gavel. The play begs the audience to think twice before allowing fallible human authority to hold sway over matters of the human soul.

           

THE CRUCIBLE Selfie from Rachel Z.

 

Walking into the Old Vic Theatre, the space was already set up with chairs and the audience was encouraged to walk across the stage. The audience therefore seemed very much a part of the play. We were invited to explore the idea of redemption and forgiveness throughout the play itself. We were also given the opportunity to judge the characters for ourselves and watch as the characters developed and struggled with coming to terms with there own fates.

I had never read The Crucible, by Arthur Miller and knew little about what the play was going to be about. Kaley and I read the review outside of the theatre. I was a little concerned about how dark the play was really going to be. When we walked into the theatre, it was dark and had an eerie feel to the atmosphere of the play.

The idea of witchcraft plays an important role throughout the play and is the main plot line. The play begins with Betty, who is pretending to be ill or possessed by spirits, and Abigail telling the Reverend Parris that they had been dancing in the woods and that this was the cause of the illness. These leads into ideas such as truth telling and how much lies can affect peoples’ lives. 

The play itself was deeply rooted in truth telling and understanding how our actions affect the people around us that we love. This can be seen through John Proctor, (Richard Armitage) and Abigail Williams (Samantha Colley). We find out early in the play that John Proctor and his wife Elizabeth Proctor had asked Abigail to leave their house for a mysterious reason. That reason was that John had an affair with Abigail. This is reviled early on during the opening scene. John confronts Abigail about his action. Abigail acts out by telling John that they can still be together and that Elizabeth is to blame for his behavior. Abigail is unable to accept that she and John can not be together. I think that this affects their relationship and Abigail actions throughout the trials. Abigail uses this to her advantage to have Elizabeth arrested for witchcraft.  

Confession also plays an important role. John confesses to Elizabeth his sin. Another character, Giles Corey confesses that his wife has been reading books and he wants to know why. The relationship between Reverend John Hale also plays an important role with the idea of confession because he is the one who comes with his books to diagnose witchcraft in the village.  By the end of the play Reverend Hale realizes that he should be ministering to the women instead of accusing and punishing them for witchcraft. Due to the fact that the audience is so physically close to the action, we took on a vulnerable part. The audience was trusted with very intimate conversations such as with John confesses to Elizabeth and so we were receiving knowledge before the other characters.

The idea of promises plays an important role between Elizabeth and John. Elizabeth tells John that he was wrong to break his promise that he made to her. Towards the end of the play, John seeks forgiveness from Elizabeth and they are both are able to forgive each other. Elizabeth also realizes that she has not been a good wife and that she understands why John might have had the affair. Elizabeth can also not confess to witchcraft because she believes that she would be telling a lie.

 Lies become very central to the play, because the girls are pretending that things are happening to them and that people in the village during the trials are placing a curse of them. The leaders in the town seem to be placing their trust in a group of people that are influencing life and death decisions. For example, stone crushes Giles’ body because he is unable to confess to something that is untrue and his last words were “add more stone”. Giles is unable to lie, because he wants to confess what is true.

John confesses his crime to the people in the courthouse, but rips up his confession because knowing that it is going to be placed on the church door makes John realize that the town and his sons are going to see this confession. He knows that it is going to affect his relationship with people around him. He does not what to hurt others around him. Elizabeth takes this as a form of redemption and states, “he had his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him”.

The audience during the play was given the opportunity to make their own decision if the girls were pretending or this was a real thing. Though there was never a time where the audience was directly asked this, it was always implied. The story itself, becomes a story of redemption and forgiveness in a place where the town is littered with pride and lies that drive people’s lives.

THE CRUCIBLE Selfie from Marian P-S

The Crucible is a story set in Salem, Massachusetts set during the Salem Witch Trials. Abigail, her cousin Betty, and other women were discovered dancing in the forest, and Betty has fallen sick with an illness that seems otherworldly. When the talk of witchcraft sets a panic in the townspeople, Abigail, in order to cover her tracks, lies and gives names of people who she “knows” practice witchcraft in order to get the attention off of her and her friends. There is a struggle for power throughout the play between Abigail and the other female characters, and the audience watches helplessly as it plays out. Abigail desperately wants to become the alpha of the pack, and she will stop at nothing to get herself there. Frail Elizabeth Proctor, the wife of John Proctor—the man Abigail loves—becomes Abigail’s target.  Full of spite, Abigail battles Elizabeth for dominance and stops at nothing and no one to obtain it.

The arena staging for The Crucible helps immerse the audience in the show. Throughout the play, the audience is right in the middle of the action. The audience gets to see Abigail, Elizabeth, and Mary up close, and personal and, therefore has a better idea of what kind of characters they are. Abigail is presented as strong and fearless in the beginning. She is not afraid to yell or get up close to the women she is trying to intimidate. Her posture is tall and her head is always held high, even when she is lying. She has a confident air about her, and is not easily intimidated. Mary is presented as being a lukewarm follower, and lives up to that role. She rarely looks people in the eye, and often cowers away when people get close to her. She shrinks constantly, allowing Abigail to expand around her space and helping her get the upper hand. Elizabeth is presented as being frail and weak. In the first scene in which she appears, she is seen barefoot in her house preparing dinner. Her shoulders are often stooped low. She never raises her voice or puts up a fight about anything. The stage set up allows the audience to observe the characteristics of each character’s personality, and cast their judgment.  

Abigail is an important character in The Crucible. She spends the entirety of the play scheming. Being the leader of her pack, she has a lot of influence over the young women in the play.  Abigail manipulates her young cousin, Betty, and some other women to go dancing in the forest as part of a spell incantation. She hopes to get rid of Elizabeth, John’s wife, in order to take her place in his household. She is headstrong, but without conscience. She does not care whose lives she ruins in the process of trying to get her way. She spends the play yelling out her innocence and condemning others. Her mental strength is presented alongside a wicked manipulative streak. Abigail’s morals are very loose. While she claims to be a God-fearing woman, she does not prove this with her actions. In the end, she steals Parris’ money, and, like a coward, runs away.

The antithesis of Abigail is Elizabeth Proctor. The audience is informed of her illness very early on in the play.  After she had had her last baby, she became ill. At the time, Abigail was working for their household and took on more responsibility, including having an affair with Elizabeth’s husband John. This affair is a source of contention for John and Elizabeth throughout the majority of the play. Elizabeth is, rightfully, untrusting of her husband, and John is tired of being doubted. However, Elizabeth has a good heart. She takes care of their household, and their children and does so without complaint. While she does not quite trust her husband, she also does not distrust him. She still shows great love and care for him.

Mary Warren is an important female figure in the play. She is the Proctors’ servant and also Abigail’s best friend. Mary goes along with Abigail’s accusations of witchcraft in the beginning. They all accuse innocent people in order to save themselves, because witchcraft is a crime punishable by death. However, Mary has a change of heart during the play. She, with prompting from John Proctor, realizes how wrong her lies are and attempts to make amends. But again, Abigail gets to her. Abigail and the young women pretend that Mary is cursing them, and Mary eventually gives in and accuses John of witchcraft.

Elizabeth Proctor, also accused of witchcraft by Abigail, has this far been defended by John. He realizes that, had he never had an affair with Abigail, she would very likely not be trying to kill his wife. It becomes a power struggle between Elizabeth and John versus Abigail, and, impossibly, Abigail is seated to win. A seventeen year old has the upper hand. When John confesses to adultery in the hopes of saving Elizabeth’s life—as witchcraft is a crime punishable by death—Elizabeth lies in the hopes of saving his honor. Instead, both John and Elizabeth are to be hanged for their crimes. In the end Elizabeth half-heartedly attempts to save John’s life. If John confesses to witchcraft, he can live, but Elizabeth knows that to confess to witchcraft would be a lie. John realizes that his wife will never admit to witchcraft in order to live, and follows in her footsteps. His desire to be as good a person as his wife believes him to be wins out over his desire to live.

             

The staging in The Crucible allowed the audience to feel as if we were part of the courtroom. Since most of the play deals with witch trials in an actual courtroom, the stage also seemed to expand to include us in the judgment of Elizabeth and John. Judge Danforth speaks directly to the audience at various points during the trails. He attempts to convince us, and himself, that he is doing the right thing in putting Elizabeth and John through these trails he knows they will lose. Being a part of the court meant that the audience felt helpless throughout the play. The audience watched characters we knew were good crash in court and get sentenced to death due to no fault of their own, but we could not do anything to stop it. The audience observed Abigail’s manipulative deceit playing out, but could not do anything to help Elizabeth and John.

The Crucible explores many themes, one of the main ones being female involvement. There was a fairly even ratio of women to men in the play; while the men dominate, as usual, the women to do have the most influential roles in the show. The morals of the men are exposed by the actions of the women. The female characters, as diverse as they are, make the story what it is. The stage allowed the audience to become part of the story as people in the courtroom. Abigail and Elizabeth’s conflict exposes the true nature of many of the townspeople in the process.

AS YOU LIKE IT Selfie from Jessie G.

On Tuesday, July 22, I set out to experience The Oxford Shakespeare Company’s production of As You Like It (by William Shakespeare, of course) at Wadham College Oxford. I was initially attracted to this production because of the unique theatre space being used; I was excited to experience one of Shakespeare’s brilliant comedies in such a beautiful setting. The play began with the audience sitting on blankets in the grass, which is not typically what one envisions when they imagine going to the theatre. After a while the players instructed us to move across the courtyard where chairs had been set up in a semi-circle to enjoy the rest of the performance. I found it interesting that the audience was seated in the grass for Act I, during which the action takes place in and around the Duke’s palace, a setting the characters were familiar and comfortable with, yet for Act II, we were seated in chairs, a setting that felt much more natural for experiencing theatre, however the characters had entered the Forest of Arden, a setting that completely stripped them of the comforts of society that they are used to. This paradox left me preoccupied with ideas of societal comfort and setting throughout the remainder of the play. I left the “theatre” thinking that the Forest of Arden represented an escape for the characters in more than just the physical aspect, also serving as an area for transformation and self-discovery.

 In the Forest of Arden, both Rosalind (Rebecca Tanwen) and Oliver (Alexander McWilliam) have a chance to reinvent themselves. Rosalind, having escaped the unethical society of court, enters the Forest of Arden as a place where she is free to be herself. Rosalind renames herself Ganymede and chooses the identity of a strong male in an attempt to shed her identity as the daughter of Duke Senior. Underneath her disguise, however, she clings to her femininity. Even in her masculine costume, Rosalind proclaims that she can, "cry like a woman.” Oliver is initially presented as a wicked character for denying his brother the right to an education. When the Duke orders him to go into Arden and find Orlando (David Alwyn) he has the chance to redeem himself. When he meets Rosalind and Celia (Charlotte Hamblin) he introduces himself by saying, "I do not shame / To tell you what I was, since my conversion / So sweetly tastes, being the thing that I am.” Now that Oliver has removed himself from the daily pressures of court life, he has the opportunity to judge his own character and redeem himself as a genuine person. However, Oliver's redemption fulfills the Duke's order, ultimately making Oliver appear more suited for court life. The Forest of Arden is not truly an escape from society for either Rosalind or Oliver, but rather a sanctuary where they are finally able to act freely, and therefore learn about themselves, eventually returning to society with a new understanding of their individual identities. This idea was reflected in the decision to stage the play outside; being outdoors provided a sense of liberation that was felt by both the characters and the audience. It was interesting that the audience moved from blankets to chairs when the characters did the opposite and relocated from comfort to the unknown, yet personally I felt this paradox made the transitions that much more effective.

Seeing Shakespeare’s As You Like It in Wadham College’s beautiful gardens really was a unique and interesting theatrical experience. I’ve seen Shakespeare scenes on location before but I had never experienced a full performance outdoors. Being outside made the characters journey through the Forest of Arden that much more realistic and thought provoking. I actually preferred sitting on blankets in the grass to sitting in chairs; it was much more comfortable and made the experience very relaxing. Although it felt unconventional it was a positive change for me and I felt as though it mirrored the positive changes the characters underwent as they journeyed through the Forest of Arden.

In the Forest of Arden the characters are physically removed from society, thus they are also removed from the economic, political, and gender roles that govern them in their everyday lives. Initially, The Forest of Arden feels like a sanctuary, where the characters are free to reinvent themselves. They take on roles that were previously unavailable to them. However once they have the experience of inhabiting different personas, they become that much more dedicated to their traditional societal roles. Shakespeare thus presents the Forest of Arden as a commentary on the permanent influence of society on individual identity, criticizing utopianism as an impossibility and stating that individuals re-enact their societal roles even in the absence of society.

Throughout this trip we have also been, like the characters in Shakespeare’s As You Like It,  pushed outside of our comfort zones; we have been transplanted into a new culture that, in many ways, is very different from what we are used to in the United States. I believe this has been an amazing growing experience for each and every one of us where we have had the opportunity to learn more about ourselves individually. Being forced to step out of my comfort zone once more, in this seemingly insignificant way, made me that much more aware of what a growing experience this truly is, and of the characters undergoing such a similar transformation.

HENRY IV Selfie from Maddie K.

Although Henry IV is the title character of the play, I will be primarily focusing on the character of Prince Hal. The maturation of Hal from a boy to a man is evidently seen throughout the play. At the start we see Hal as a young prince who lays around and is always drunk. Our first impression of him is a player who doesn't have a care in the world. Hal does not take it seriously that he is the heir to the throne of England. He is acting like a boy and not the man that he should be representing. This is especially evident in the first scene where he is first in a bed with two women, and then joking around with Falstaff. It is also seen when he and Poins steal the loot from their friends, after they had stolen it from travelers. Not only did they steal the money, but then they taunted their friends about it. Hal starts off as an immature boy but as the play progresses the audience is able to see him grow up.

Thankfully, Hal has a turning point where he starts to mature: when he has a talk with his father. Hal's meeting with the king shows him the danger that is coming to the kingdom. The play shows that in the face of danger Hal becomes a man. He steps up and demands respect and helps his father lead England into battle. The way Hal interacts with Falstaff also changes as he matures; instead of making fun of the man and thinking of him as useless, Hal respects Falstaff enough to put him in charge of a group of soldiers. This decision shows that Hal is still maturing, because it ended up being a bad tactical idea; Falstaff was not a good leader of the regent of soldiers. He squandered the money and got the least strong and powerful people possible for his soldiers. We see Hal take leadership in leading his people before and during the battle. Prince Hal continues to mature and this is seen when he speaks of Hotspur; he talks about his rival with respect that we would not have seen at the beginning of the play.

The play is suggesting that age does not make you a boy or a man. Rather, how you deal with the circumstances that you given determines your maturity. In the face of conflict, Hal becomes a man. Looking at Hal in his first appearance on stage, to his last, he looks like a completely different character. The primary event that seems to change Hal for good is the war that made him become a leader. Men from every era go to war as boys and come back as men. The war that Prince Hal went through forced him to see what the real world was like, and that he  couldn't mess around for his entire life. Before this time in his life, he did not have a cause to worry about, but King Henry IV made sure he knew about the danger to the kingdom. Once Hal was pushed to become a leader, he made a point to be a good one.

The theatre space that was used for Henry IV Part One was a thrust stage. It was interesting because I sat on stage right, so I could see the people directly across from me as I watched the play. Having part of the audience directly in front of me showed me other spectators reactions and how theirs were different or similar to my own thoughts. The thrust stage also made it easier for the actors to be close and interact with the audience, making it easier to become enveloped in the play. The costumes were very authentic and were respectful of the setting of the play. The characters clothing covered their entire body, which was common in the times of Henry IV. The everyday people wore clothing made of cloth and were neutral colors because dye was expensive. In contrast, the nobility wore more sturdy looking attire which were vibrantly decorated with color and detail. Hal's wardrobe changed as his character developed. He started off with loose, light colored clothing to show his uncaring and easy nature. When he matured, he wore darker, harder materials of a soldier. This change in costume expressed Hal's change from a soft boy, to a hard and serious prince.

The scenery changed depending on the setting and level of seriousness of the scene. The constant moving guided the audience, and showed that the play was constantly moving forward. The changing of the scenery made the play easier to follow because it always visual led the audience to know where the characters were. For example, there was a moving platform that was used less for serious settings such as Hal's bedroom and the pub. When the platform came out, it allowed the audience to know that the setting was informal. The lighting was used to show the time of day and seriousness of the matter. The more light, the lighter the matter being discussed. The darker and redder the light, then the more serious and dangerous the conversation was that was being had. If there were many people on the stage, then the lighting would direct the viewer toward who was speaking and who should be viewed. The scenery, costumes, and lighting of the play made the events of the story easy to follow and allowed for the story to truly be developed.

As the story of Henry IV Part One progressed the level of seriousness did too. Hal was a character who's behavior changed throughout the play; his maturation during the story went along with the change in attitude of the play. The scenic design of the stage showed the progression of Hal and of the other events in the play. The scenery, costumes, and lighting all allowed the story to be told in a way that was easy for the audience to follow and set the mood for each scene. Henry IV Part One was a play that showed the maturation of a prince from a boy to a man.

HENRY IV Selfie from Marian P-S

Henry IV, Part 1 is a historical tale filled with mischief, comedy, and battle. King Henry IV and his son, Prince Hal, have a complicated relationship. King Henry IV wants his son to mature, as he is next in line for the throne, but Prince Hal is more interested in causing trouble with his best friends, Poins and Falstaff. Throughout the play, however, Hal evolves. He takes more responsibility for himself and his life at the request of his father. He goes from acting like a child to acting like a man.

As the play begins to unfold, the audience sees Hal’s daily life. He spends his days with thieves and vagabonds leading a very hedonistic lifestyle. This is a source of tension between Hal and his father, King Henry, because his father wants him to act in a way that is more suited for royalty. Namely, he wants Hal to stop playing around and take his role as heir to the throne seriously. Because Hal and his father do not see eye-to-eye, Hal looks towards Falstaff, his friend and perhaps the closest thing he has to a father-like figure. Falstaff is not the best role model, however. He is a thief and expert exaggerator, but he knows how to have fun.  Hal does not have a well-balanced male example in his life. His father wants him to take on too much responsibility. He forgets that Hal is still young. However, Falstaff encourages Hal to take no responsibility. He does not acknowledge that Hal is prince who needs to have some form of accountability. His father is too strict, but Falstaff is too lax.

The thrust stage set up for Henry IV, Part 1 really placed the audience inside the action. There was more intimacy between the actors and the audience, and the audience was able to grow and evolve with the characters, especially Hal. The actors relied on audience involvement for a few of the scenes. This helped the audience believe that we were part of the plot.  When Hal decides to defend Falstaff, he hands the evidence—a chest containing loot—to an audience member. The audience member is hiding the chest in order to help Hal defend Falstaff. Hal gradually gains the audience’s trust by telling us things he tells neither his father nor Falstaff. The audience becomes Hal’s middle ground between his too strict father and his too lax friend. He allows us to see a side of himself that he does not show anyone else, helping us realize his true nature, and allowing us to see just how much he matures throughout the play.

Hal seems to take part in mischief purely for the fun of it, rather than because he wants to stir up real trouble. When Poins suggests that Hal and he go and steal the loot that Falstaff and friends have stolen, Hal joins in simply so he can listen to the wild fabrications that Falstaff is sure to come up with later. Hal knows where his responsibilities lie. He is under no illusion that he will be able to carry on his hedonistic lifestyle throughout his whole life. Rather, Hal seems to be exorcising his wild ways out of his system before he can no longer participate in any of this. At the beginning of the play, he mentions how he plans to suddenly get rid of his immaturity and wild youth in order to become what the people needs. He says this directly to audience, i.e. the people. Hal knows who he needs to convince of his trustworthiness, and he plays it up, speaking sincerely and directly to his people. He believes that his change of heart will impress the people and get them to trust him more easily once he takes the crown. Hal is calculating and smart; he is just not quite mature.

Falstaff and Hal role-play a meeting with Hal’s father in order to get Hal ready. Falstaff plays King Henry and tells Hal that he should never get rid of Falstaff as a friend. Hal interrupts him, saying that his father would never give him that sort of advice, so Hal and Falstaff switch roles.  Hal as King Henry reprimands Falstaff as Hal for hanging around such bad company. Falstaff tries to defend himself but finds that he cannot win an argument against Hal. This scene is very eye-opening in that the audience realizes that Falstaff is afraid of losing Hal as a friend. However, it also gives Hal a chance to prove himself again. He is a loyal friend. When the sheriff interrupts their “court” looking for Falstaff, Hal tells him to hide, and defends him—a truly honorable act.

When King Henry calls on his son to help him calm the rebels who want to overthrow him, Hal jumps into the action. He commits to fighting with his father in order to overthrow their most determined enemy, Hotspur. Hal does just that. He evolves from a tavern dweller into a warrior, a prince ready to lead a kingdom when the time calls for it. Hal steps up the plate whenever his father most needs him and prevails.  

Henry IV, Part 1 is a historical drama, but, truly, it is also a coming of age story of a young prince on his journey to becoming king material. Hal, although seemingly careless and shallow at first, proves himself to be an intelligent, brave man. He does nothing without intention. Hal does not seek praise or fame, but, rather seems to have the best intentions for his father and his father’s kingdom. He proves his heart to be true and righteous in the end. The way the play was set up—including the audience involvement and staging choices—helped the audience really entangle themselves in what was happening. It also gave them a chance to know things that no characters in the play knew. This makes Hal’s transformation all the more significant. Hal’s evolution has a great outcome—he is finally deserving of the title “Prince of Wales.”