Henry IV

The eminent Shakespearean actor and scholar Dakin Matthews adapts the two parts of Henry IV into one long three-act history play, and also plays the title role with appropriate weariness and pique. Despite some smart dramaturgical rearranging by Matthews, and some starkly effective staging by Eric Tucker for TFANA, this Henry IV falters where many others do: The political and historical developments are hard to track—it doesn't help that most of the actors play multiple roles—and the evolution of the future Henry V, Prince Hal (Elijah Jones), is not convincingly rendered. But these faults are outweighed by Jay O. Sanders's rich, marvelously full performance of the plays' plum role: the expansive and mendacious Sir John Falstaff, whose bad company Hal enjoys until it no longer suits him. The cast of 16 also notably includes James Udom as the valiant Henry "Hotspur" Percy, Cara Ricketts as his wife, John Keating as the fatuous Robert Shallow and Steven Epp as both the intriguing Worcester and the sweetly imbecilic servant Francis. But Sanders's witty and touching Falstaff is, as it should be, the magnetic main attraction.