Just got back from a marathon 6 hours Shakespeare session!!! Went to see "Henry IV, Parts I & II" at the National Theatre. Michael Gambon was playing Falstaf. This was the first time I'd seen "Henry IV". I was a bit nervous that I'd struggle to follow it (a new Shakespeare play is always a potential challenge), but having seen "Richard II" a couple of years ago (the play's predecessor) and really enjoyed it, I was modestly confident that I'd be able to keep up with this one (or these two!).

The first part started with a long monologue, which was a bit tricky, and required a lot of concentration, but after that the play whizzed by! It's a great bit of theatre, full of action, humour and suspense. The characters of Harry, Falstaf and Hotspur are all first-rate and engaging. It was also cleverly staged and brilliantly acted. By the end, I was loving it, and craving more!!!

Then, after a pizza, came Part II ... and it was as flat as a pancake!!! Now, as I said above, I'm new to the play, so maybe I missed something (or a lot of somethings), but Part II felt like a damp squib!! It was clumsy ... there was no real pace to it ... the story was thin ... the timing of both the comedy and tragedy was surprisingly clunky, scenes playing for far longer than necessary. I know it takes a bold man (especially if you're a writer!) to challenge Mighty Will, but I think he missed the mark big time with Part II. It had good moments, especially in the second half, but overall I was very disappointed in it.

My advice to anyone contemplating going to see this would be to DEFINITELY catch Part I, but if you can bear to miss Hal's final confrontation with Falstaf (the second part's best scene by far), then maybe you can afford to give Part II a wide berth ...