Overview

From the Royal Shakespeare Company a fresh new edition of Shakespeare's tragi-comedy of youth and age, introducing the immortal Sir John Falstaff. This edition includes an illuminating introduction to Henry IV Part I by award-winning scholar Jonathan Bate, the play - with clear and authoritative explanatory notes on each page,  a helpful scene-by-scene analysis and key facts about the play, an introduction to Shakespeare's career and the Elizabethan theatre and a rich exploration of approaches to staging the play featuring photographs of key productions. Also included in this unique edition there is a historical overview of Henry IV Part I in performance with recommended film versions, and a detailed look at specific productions including interviews with two leading directors and an actor-- Michael Boyd, Adrian Noble and Michael Pennington -- so that we may get a sense of the extraordinary variety of interpretations that are possible, a variety that gives Shakespeare his unique capacity to be reinvented and made 'our contemporary' four centuries after his death. Ideal for students, theatre-goers, actors and general readers, the RSC Shakespeare editions offer an accessible and contemporary approach to reading and rediscovering Shakespeare's works for the twenty-first century.