THEATRE THE PLAYER KINGS York Theatre, March 29 Until April 5 Reviewed by JOHN SHAND ★★★★ The great wonder of history is that we continue to be surprised by it unfolding in our own lifetimes, as if it were something that only happened in the past. The corollary is that all that happened in the past is our tutor if we’ll listen – hence part of the longevity of Shakespeare’s eight history plays, despite only a couple of them being among his greatest works. Linking the eight – Richard II , the two parts of Henry IV , Henry V , the three parts of Henry VI and Richard III – into a chronological cycle is a fond project of “bardologists”, this being Sydney’s third this century.
Immediately setting The Player Kings apart from The War of the Roses (2009) and Rose Riot (2018) is its sheer scale. The performance is a monumental demand upon audiences, actors and technicians. Credit: Campbell J Parsons Including the intervals, this was 12 hours long: a monumental demand upon audiences, actors and technicians.
Within that frame, the director and adaptor, Sport for Jove’s Damien Ryan (who also did Rose Riot ), has succeeded in emphasising narrative through-lines, intergenerational parallels, clarity of language and the plays’ contrasting worlds. The show is presented in six chapters of towards 90 minutes each, knitted by such devices as having Falstaff, beloved joint protagonist of Henry IV , cheekily appear before the preceding Richard II is done. Ryan cunningly.