LET US BE EVIL HISTORIES OVERLORDS.

[angevin2.livejournal.com]

So I was talking to faithhopetricks and speak_me_fair about things that should be done in productions of the histories but never (or rarely) are. (The specific thing that triggered it is that none of us had ever seen a production of the improv scene in 1H4 that took advantage of being in a tetralogy to play up the echoes of Richard II's deposition.)

And from this came the question of things we would totally put in the histories if we were in charge of the Shakespeare world.

I was going to write up my own list to start, but it would take me about three hours to write, so I will put them in in the comments. What sorts of things do you think should turn up in productions of the histories (but don't or probably don't)? ALTERNATELY what sorts of things do directors always seem to do that they shouldn't?

Comments

[fuunsaiki.livejournal.com]

First thing that sprung to mind. It is pithy, but it is important to me.

DO NOT WANT HALSTAFF.

That is all.

[cisic.livejournal.com]

My Rules:

Lady Anne is not weak and sniveling. (I feel the same way about Ophelia -- the further they have to fall, the more interesting it is).

Henry IV is not ALL about Falstaff.

Henry IV should not be played as old and ineffectual.

Margaret should be played by me.

People should steal a lot from Michael Boyd. Steal shamelessly. Because his Histories were brilliant. God that man understood how to double effectively.