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    King Henry IV: The Shadow of Succession
    King Henry IV: The Shadow of Succession
    King Henry IV: The Shadow of Succession
    Audiobook1 hour

    King Henry IV: The Shadow of Succession

    Written by William Shakespeare, Charles Newell and David Bevington

    Narrated by Harry Althaus and Full Cast

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Shakespeare’s riveting, epic drama of a family in crisis, and a country on the brink of civil war. Wracked by illness and tormented by guilt, King Henry IV fears for England’s future after his death. The heir to the throne, Prince Hal, seems intent only on a life of debauchery in the company of the dissolute – but hilarious – Sir John Falstaff. As war looms and the stakes increase, father and son struggle to face their destinies – and each other.

    An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring:
    Harry Althaus as Earl Of Westmoreland and Justice Shallow
    William Brown as King Henry IV
    Wilson Cain III as Earl Of Northumberland and Bardolph
    Michael J. Cargill as Thomas, Duke Of Clarence and Peto
    Tony Dobrowolski as Earl Of Worcester and Chief Justice
    Lisa A. Dodson as Mistress Quickly & Nurse
    Shawn Douglass as Prince John and Poins
    Raul Esparza as Hotspur and Pistol
    Raymond Fox as Prince Henry
    Ned Mochel as The Douglas and The Messenger
    Nicholas Rudall a Sir John Falstaff
    Doran Schrantz as Humphrey, Duke Of Gloucester & Doll Tearsheet
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherL.A. Theatre Works
    Release dateJan 1, 2008
    ISBN9781580814683
    King Henry IV: The Shadow of Succession
    Author

    William Shakespeare

    William Shakespeare is the world's greatest ever playwright. Born in 1564, he split his time between Stratford-upon-Avon and London, where he worked as a playwright, poet and actor. In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway. Shakespeare died in 1616 at the age of fifty-two, leaving three children—Susanna, Hamnet and Judith. The rest is silence.

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    Reviews for King Henry IV

    4/5

    650 ratings18 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed reading part 1. Shakespeare has a way with words that few authors do. I loved his interpretation of Falstaff and the humor he assigned to this character. The war scenes were brilliantly done. By the end of the book, Prince Henry has done what he vowed he would - become a prince his father could be proud of. Fun, fun read.
    • 4/5
      I only have to read part one for my class, but I think I'll read part two, too, in due course. Falstaff is amusing, and I rather enjoy Hal, too. I preferred it to Richard II, I think.

      No need to say that I loved the language and thought it'd be even better on the stage. That's just Shakespeare for you.

      (Why didn't I used to like Shakespeare? Probably because I repeatedly got Romeo & Juliet shoved down my throat, and his comedies aren't to my taste.)
    • 4/5
      Henry IV is not the most accessible of Shakespeare's plays. The histories do require at least a brief background in, well, history, to make them comprehensible. So I would recommend reading, at the very least, some encyclopedia articles on the historical Henry IV (and Richard II, the ruler he overthrew) before tackling this play. With a bit of background information in hand, the play becomes easier to understand.This is the story of Henry IV dealing with the tumultuous mess of a kingdom that he made when he overthrew the previous ruler, Richard II. Even more importantly, it is the story of his son, the prince, coming of age and coming into his role as future ruler of a not-quite unified land. The plot shifts focus between three central groups of characters: The king (Henry IV) is troubled by guilt because he overthrew Richard II, rather than inheriting the throne from him legitimately. He thinks a pilgrimage/crusade to the Holy Land would help him feel better, but alas there's no time for that with all the rebellions he needs to quash in his own kingdom. His unresolved feelings of guilt also lead him to react angrily and defensively against the nobles who sided with him when he overthrew the old king, so he's quickly running out of friends. The king is also troubled because his son seems like a useless punk, and not a valiant knight.Prince Henry (nicknamed Hal) is the king's son. Hal likes drinking and partying and hangs out with a bunch of guys who enjoy robbing people after dark (mostly for the LOLs.) Chief among Hal's disreputable friends is a fat, ridiculous, old knight named Falstaff. Falstaff's over-the-top behavior provides the comic relief for the play. Unfortunately, a lot of the humor is meant to derive from puns that play with words no longer in common usage. It's hardly Shakespeare's fault that we don't use phrases like "trunk of humors" or words like "bolting-hutch" anymore, but that doesn't stop the "funny" parts from getting a bit torturous. Anyways, the point is that Hal needs to grow up, distance himself from the drunken pranks of Falstaff and his ilk, and take on the mantle of knighthood.The third group of characters are, of course, the rebels trying to overthrow King Henry IV. Their leader is Worcester (Thomas Percy) and their ranks include Mortimer, (the guy who would have been next in line for the throne under Richard II's reign), Glendower (leader of the Welsh, rumored to be a sorcerer), Douglas (leader of the Scots), Northumberland (who had been a friend and ally of Henry IV, originally) and Northumberland's son, Hotspur. Hotspur is the same age as Hal (in the play, not in reality) and Shakespeare sets him up as Hal's arch nemesis and a mirror of what Hal might become.Everything heads to a climax at the dramatic Battle of Shrewsbury. King Henry offers peace, but Worcester, who fears he will take all the blame for the rebellion, neglects to pass this information on. In the ensuing battle many die, especially all of the poor, starving beggars Falstaff recruited, and loyal knights who disguise themselves as the king to serve as decoys. At one point, Hal saves his father's life, thus convincing the king that his son isn't so worthless, after all. The play opens with Henry IV wishing that Hal could be more like Hotspur, and fittingly concludes with Hal killing Hotspur and thus taking on his role as warrior and knight. Annoyingly, Falstaff (who has been playing dead for the duration of the battle) tries to take the credit for slaying the enemies' most powerful knight, and Hal, out of kindness, allows him the lie. Since this is only Part 1 of a two part story, there remain some unresolved conflicts at the end of the play, mostly the fact that Glendower failed to materialize at the battle and thus Henry's supporters still have another villain to face.
    • 4/5
      In performance I have found 1 Henry IV to be a bit tedious so a part of me wanted to dislike the experience of reading it order thay my earlier opinion might be validated.

      Alas, I found the experience of reading the play to be thoroughly entertaining. The characters are rich, the wordplay wonderful, and the plot arc also quite satisfying. Now I see why this play is often held among Shakespeare's best.
    • 2/5
      Another play for my Shakespeare class. Not a favorite; I don't think the themes of honor etc. are expounded on very well in this one.
    • 3/5
      Don't look for an educated review here, I've barely touched the surface having only read the play one time. I tried to watch two versions of this, but they did not catch my fancy. I enjoyed the reading of it though, and intend to read the second part very soon. Action, intrigue, a bit of comedy/farce. Good stuff.
    • 5/5
      Folger editions are my fave.
    • 4/5
      This play was the second in a series of 8 which together formed Shakespeare’s masterful saga of 'History' plays chronicling the turbulent final century of the Plantagenet Dynasty from the deposition of Richard II in 1399 to the death of Richard III at Bosworth field in 1485.

      Altogether, they have all the high drama of an epic saga with their vivid accounts of treachery, ambition, power, betrayal, feuding and war in an age of bloody upheaval.
      If all this sounds gloomy and depressing, there are also colourful well-developed and memorable characters including the 'man mountain' plump and usually tipsy John Falstaff and the heroic Henry V as well as plenty of courage, chivalry and deeds of daring-do with a smattering of romance and humour.

      Whoever said Shakespeare was boring? It should be said, however, that I could not fully appreciate these plays by simply reading them- they had to be seen as well. They are not, after all, novels, and reading through them in the way one would a book can be a tedious experience.

      In this play King Henry IV struggles to maintain his position and power in the face of rebellion from the influential, passionate, impetuous and headstrong Henry Hotspur young son of the powerful Earl of Northumberland who joins with the King's enemies.
      Alongside the threat of rebellion and civil war King Henry strives with his own wayward son Prince Hal (the future Henry V) who spends most of his time in seedy taverns and the company of ne'er-do- wells such as John Falstaff.

      As events come to a head, Hal promises to prove himself worthy of his father's respect, and ultimately the position and authority of his future Kingship on the battlefield.
    • 5/5
      It doesn't have the famous speeches of Henry V, but it has the action, the humor, Hotspur, and... FALSTAFF. I can only imagine some Elizabethan Chris Farley got rich off this part. It would only make sense.
    • 3/5
      Much more interesting than Richard II. The love of Henry IV for Hotspur over his own son seems to foreshadow the King Lear tragedy. Shakespeare depicts HIV as a fairly weak king, in my opinion, but I suppose this is meant to boost HV's status.The Hal/Falstaff robbery scene was quite amusing and set up the drama of the Hal/Hotspur confrontation with Falstaff taking credit for Hotspur's death.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed reading Shakepeare's "King Henry IV, Part One". It was my first time reading one of Shakepeare's historical plays and this one exceeded my expectations.It's got a good story line, Henry IV is fighting rivals for his throne and trying to bring his unruly son under control. Falstaff is a pretty funny character -- I thought he was much more fun here than in "The Merry Wives of Windsor."
    • 5/5
      The central characters are supposed to be an old king trying to keep the crown he so dubiously earned and the wild young prince whose only apparent virtue in this play is his loyalty and fighting prowess. They are, as everyone knows, upstaged by two anti-heroes, the warrior Hotspur and the rough Sir John Falstaff. Hotspur was most interesting in his domestic scenes, where he proved himself to be an indifferent husband and a very trying in-law. I have heard so much about Falstaff over the years that it was a great joy to finally meet the old fart. Family conflicts, plots, fight scenes, and plenty of comic relief: someone watching this at the time would have thought that Shakespeare had done all that anyone could do with a history play.
    • 4/5
      I was a bit worried that I wouldn't get it, since I always have trouble with any books or movies which mix the funny and the serious. But I had no problems with this (unlike, say, The Tempest). Looking forward to part II and Henry V.

      "But thoughts, the slaves of life, and life, time's fool
      And time, that takes survey of all the world,
      Must have a stop." Hotspur, V 4 80-82.

      "Why? She's neither fish nor flesh; a man knows not where to have her."
      "Thou art an unjust man in saying so. Thou or any man knows where to have me, thou knave thou." Falstaff & Mrs Quickly, III 3 126-129.
    • 4/5
      Richard II is dead, and Henry of Bolingbroke is now king Henry IV. He has a wild son, Prince Hal, and his nobles are restive, especially the earl of Worcester, a former ally in the overthrow of Richard II. Hal has low companions, notably John Falstaff, a disorderly knight, but comes to his father's aid in quelling part of the rebellion. There is a lot in this play about conflict between fathers and sons. It reads well.I've recorded it as read 6 times.
    • 4/5
      Another great one! If I remember right, the second part of Henry IV is not as great...I'll have to kinda slog through it on my way to Henry V, which at this point is like having sex with your wife. Henry V, not slogging through 2 Henry IV, I mean. I've read Henry V like fifty times and seen the movie at least five - my mom really liked that thing. That and Amadeus. Remember back when VCRs were for watching old movies instead of new ones? ("No, because I'm not a million years old like you." "Get off my lawn.") Anyway, after thinking about it for six and a half sentences, the sex / Henry V comparison doesn't make any sense, so never mind.

      I found myself losing focus sometimes during 1 Henry IV, and I'm not sure whether it was the context - I had little free time this weekend and I found myself reading it in small bites, sometimes while the wife watched cooking reality shows. Not a great way to read Shakespeare - or maybe it was that it's been a while since I read a bunch of Shakespeare in quick succession, and my Shakespeare muscles have gone all flabby. We'll see.

      Where Richard II was very faithful to the actual history, Shakespeare departs more readily from the strict truth of things in the Henry IV plays. He throws a lot more stuff in from non-historical characters, Falstaff being the obvious one, possibly because he needs some padding to make this into two different plays; I'm not sure why he did two plays, but maybe I'll get it more after the second one. (I've read all this before, but it's been a while so I don't remember how 2 Henry IV ends.) The dramatic arc in this first part works perfectly, anyway; the climactic (and completely fabricated) duel between the young Henry V and Hotspur makes a great Act V.

      Interesting, by the way, that Henry V is at least co-lead with Henry IV in this first part, and he's clearly the main character in the second. Just sayin'. I wonder whether we'd see these plays differently if 2 Henry IV had been called 1 Henry V. I think Henry IV gets less attention than Henry V in part because it's two plays, which makes people more anxious about reading them. More commitment, y'know? But if you take 1 Henry IV on its own...well, it's not as good as Richard II, but it's very good.

      I'm rambling badly, aren't I? Truth is I have work to do and I don't want to do it. But okay, I should get to it. See you soon for 2 Henry IV.

      Saccio's book, by the way, is great. Fun to read, really informative. My pattern has been to read the chapter about the play, then the play, then my Riverside Shakespeare's intro to the play; it's working out nicely. There's a lot of flipping between books involved, though; I'm going to buy a physical copy of Saccio today so I can reference it better. Paging around on a Kindle totally sucks.
    • 4/5
      After a bad experience with Richard II, I was starting to worry that Shakespeare’s history plays weren’t for me, when Henry IV, Part I came along to save me from that delusion. This is a wonderful play, perhaps one of my favorites of Shakespeare's now. It balances so many different elements—the court, the tavern, the rebel camp, the pathos, the humor, the discourse on honor. And it presented me with characters I could truly care about.Faltstaff is often put forward as one of Shakespeare’s greatest creations, and understandably so. The old, fat, roguish knight has a towering presence even on the page, and I could sympathize with his fatherly love for Prince Hal and his fear that the boy will eventually turn on him. Henry IV, who was emotionally distant in Richard II (like most everyone), has some wonderful moments of vulnerability, even breaking into tears in Act III scene 2. And despite the fact that he’s the antagonist, I found Hotspur oddly likable. He’s brazen and impetuous—there must be Scots blood in there somewhere—and in spite of his constant avowals that he does not have “the gift of tongue,” he’s quite eloquent:“But I tell you, my lord fool, out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.”Methinks the noble lord doth protest too much.Actually, the only character who I had trouble liking was Hal himself, the protagonist. I learned this story through an old Wishbone episode, which whitewashed the character somewhat, so I was surprised to pick up the play and discover just how cunning and scheming he is. His dissoluteness and eventual redemption are not genuine, but staged to bring about a certain end; in the meantime, he manipulates the people around him with Machiavellian dexterity. I find that more and more I am placing a premium on honesty, both in books and in real life, and that may be why I prefer some of the other characters over the prince. Falstaff’s attempts at fibbing and playacting are generally unconvincing to those around him—he is inexpert—and I don’t think Hotspur could every bring himself to tell a barefaced lie, which may be one of the reasons I find him so lovable.This is where we ended our perusal of the history plays in my Shakespeare class, but I plan to continue with this particular tetralogy before PBS airs new adaptations of all four plays later this year. Because I enjoyed Henry IV, Part I so much, I’m looking forward to reading more about these characters.
    • 4/5
      Blah, blah, blah, John Falstaff, what a laugh. Blah, blah, blah, the meaning of valor and honor. The prodigal brat son repairs his ways and leads the country to implied future greatness. These are all themes that seem a bit tired in our day, but Shakespeare probably played some role in putting them together in the first place.Henry IVi is the second of the Bard's (imposing) historical tetralogy following the ascent of Lancastrian dynasty, which first grapple into power in Richard II and carry it through the series. Then there's the Henry VI plays (a different set). Then things devolve into chaos in full-on War of the Roses mode through dastardly Richard III before everyone gets vanquished by the glorious Tudors (one must pause and consider the historical source here a bit—Shakespeare as propaganda mouthpiece for the Tudors? Hells yeah, for sure). OK, OK, so the Shakespeare history plays. Hard. I won't gloss over that. And by hard I mean keeping one's head around the characters. The (wayward) future Henry V is referenced in the play as: Prince, Henry, Harry, Hal, Lancaster, the Prince of Wales. Most people are named Henry and most have more than one title, which also serves as a moniker. Here's my advice. Remember these names: Percy, Neville, Northumberland. Those are the names and ducal territories of the dastardly northerners who rebel against Henry Bolingbroke (that is, the former Duke of Lancaster, aka Henry IV) in the play. To this day, the Percys and Nevilles are northerners with oomph (the current head of the Neville clan is Christopher George Charles Nevill, 6th Marquess of Abergavenny, born 1955; the current Duke of Northumberland is a Percy). The fractious Percys and Nevilles, fronted by exquisite hothead Henry Percy—sigh, another Percy, another Henry, but rest easy: he's called Hotspur throughout the play and lives up to the title—aren't happy with the hand they've been dealt since Henry IV's deposition of wimpy old Richard II. Promises, promises, Henry IV made, but apparently isn't delivering. The specific reasons for the revolt are not that clear, nor do they appear to be that important to Shakespeare.At the same time, wastrel/quintessential prodigal brat, the young King Hal, is frolicking around with the farcical John Falstaff, who resembles nothing more than a 16th-century Homer Simpson: fat, dumb, greedy, pathetic comic relief. His bawdy dipshittery is a stand-in for Hal's real father (the king). The king would like nothing more than for Hal to act like Hotspur (this before the revolt), who, in his mind, is the ideal valiant son. Throughout the play, Falstaff plays the opposite tack in terms of honor, through several speeches decrying its perceived value. Interesting stuff. The play's tavern antics are balanced with standard Shakespeare high-falutin' battle scenes. Everything ends well enough, with Hotspur dying grandly and honorably, and the succession less threatened. The plays vernacular, prose (i.e. not in meter) sections are some of the hardest Shakespeare to get through, and require glossing for all but the most middle/early-modern English expert. Get a good edition with lots of footnotes. I use the Folger Library series, not because of their physical quality—they have rough paper and the reek of coloring books or newsprint—but because their facing-page notes are the easiest reference I've found for getting through the plays. Not by a sight my favorite Shakespeare play, but, hey, I'm making it through the histories.
    • 4/5
      I'm not as fond of Shakespeare's histories as I am some of his other plays, but Falstaff is a great and memorable character.