I will admit that this is my first time to the Donmar so I don't know how immersive an experience they normally make it (I have seen live streams of their plays before but obviously this is different to being there).
We were lead in via the fire escape as the Donmar is having works done and sat in those ugly plastic chairs they have in school halls but this was to add to the prison atmosphere that we were surrounded by (the soundbooth was like the prison control room). The actors all came out on stage and presented themselves as prisoners doing a performance of Henry IV and then we have the play.
I suppose I am unusual because I really don't like Falstaff and as this is only an edited version of these two plays, the focus is mostly on the comedy and iconic character that is Falstaff. The actress did a great job of showing all his foibles but I like these plays because of the exploration of the nature of Kingship and fathers and sons and I wasn't sure the play had a chance to explore this in depth as it focused on the action scenes (comedy and battle). They also throw in some breaks by having the prisoners break characters and react like female prisoners would to certain situations (when Hal and Falstaff gang up on the Mistress Quickly for example). Hotspur was excellent and did a great job of being a fiery opposite of Hal and there is a great sequence using Harriet Walter's face for the battle scene.
I enjoyed it but I am not sure it completely worked, by sticking to the exciting bits (the Hotspur revolt, the raid on the pilgrims etc) it kept the play going but I suppose I always thought that the important bit of Henry IV was the relationships but this is totally my opinion. I would be interested to see what others think and I would recommend it for anyone who wants to see an alternative version of Shakespeare.
