14:30, Fri 20th June 2025 at Trinity Hall Fellows' Garden
Easter Week 7
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"What is honour? a word. What is in that word honour? what is that honour? air."
Henry IV part I sees King Henry challenged by the threat of Hotspur (a self-proclaimed avenger of Richard II), meanwhile his son and heir, Hal (later to be Henry V), is hardly shaping up to follow in the image of his father. Hal spends a great deal of joyous time with Falstaff, where the two make merry in The Boar’s Head Tavern in a subverted parallel of the political tension of the Lancastrian court.
Set during the tumultuous period of 1399-1413, the play features a magical insight into the complexities of succession, masculinity, the meaning of kingship and ultimately the wonderful mirth of excessive drinking. Henry IV features some of Shakespeare’s most comedic moments, yet isn’t categorised under his ‘comedies’. Preston are here to change this.