Summary 
Outdoor production, set mainly with colorful curtains, maintains tight focus on Prince Hal and his relationship with Falstaff and King Henry IV. Effective use of Rumour as omnipresent Chorus, taking part in the action or affecting lights, props, and curtains. More somber than 1 Henry IV and with fewer battle scenes, the production effectively depicts the rise of a new King from the influence of aged and diseased father figures.
Design
Directed by John Sipes. Costumes by Janice Stauffer. Set by John C. Stark. Lights by J. William Ruyle. Sound by Roderick Peeples. Fights by John Sipes.
Cast
Kim Ataide (Doll Tearsheet), Kelly AuCoin (Hal), Michael Behrens (Rumour), Rob Cook (Lord Bardolph/Warwick), Geoffrey MacKinnon (Henry IV), Jason Maher (Bardolph), Patrick O'Gara (Northumberland/Shallow), Roderick Peeples (Chief Justice/Westmoreland), Thomas Anthony Quinn (Pistol/Archbishop/Silence), Karen Renee Raymore (Lady Percy), Pat Simmons (Hostess Quickly), Steve Young (Falstaff).
Analysis
Opening night of the Illinois Shakespeare Festival's 2 Henry IV is performed within the Elizabethan outdoor theatre on the grounds of Ewing Manor. The play begins with the stage draped in flowing crimson curtains that billow in the breeze beneath a gold lattice of spears. The floor is blanketed with a sprawling map of England replete with largely drawn geographic detail. When the action shifts to London (1.2), the red drapery is plucked from its moorings and falls away to reveal a weather beaten curtain spotted with holes. The floor map is rolled up and removed, exposing the dark tile beneath. There are pits like scabs where tile is missing on either side of the stage, and stacks of slate serve as benches and stools. Later, during scenes that involve the countryside and preparations for civil war, the stage is draped in dingy gray netting that falls in 5.5 to reveal two white banners. The banners brightly display the royal crest in celebration of the coronation of Henry V. The drapery symbolizes the dramatic environment for each scene, and the succession of curtains also represents the figurative clouds from behind which prig Prince Hal emerges to be the new King.
Director John Sipes utilizes children and childish behavior to underscore Hal's rejection of his misguided youth, spent in the company of Falstaff. The production begins with a child spinning a globe and playing with armies of colorful toy soldiers. In 2.2, Poins tosses a ball back and forth with the boy, and the rout of the rebels in 4.2 is symbolically depicted with the yelling child running onstage amid a swirl of fog to knock over an array of rebel-colored toy soldiers.
Steve Young's Falstaff, thunderously hedonistic in last season's 1 Henry IV, is more innocently childish and playful in this sequel, even with his character aged into a "burnt out candle." Black-booted and wearing a maroon tunic and a feathered hat, he resembles a waggish pirate. His young page is identically attired and frequently strikes the same poses in mirror image. The page is the physical embodiment of Falstaff's emotional childishness and therefore a foil for the daunting maturity of the Lord Chief Justice. As in the earlier production, there is a brief puppet show, this time with Falstaff gleefully reenacting Hal's boxing of the Chief Justice's ear. The recruitment scene (3.2) is depicted with Falstaff toying with Shallow, Silence, and the draftees like the child plays with his toy soldiers. With Falstaff's child-like nature so accentuated, his rejection by Hal becomes a pointed denunciation not only of a friend but also of youthful irresponsibility.
The production culminates with the image of Falstaff alone and heartbroken. Young's Sir John, his bluster deflated, watches Hal's procession leave the theatre, and he appears hopeless and helpless. Then the child re-enters to take his hand and slowly lead him offstage, and the production concludes. The moment gains poignancy due to the little boy being played by Steve Young's own son, Austin.
Last year's production juxtaposed rambunctious tavern hijinx with the violence of civil war and a series of one-on-one combats. The tone of 2 Henry IV is more somber, characterized not by physical violence, but by the violence of change; there are few battles, only the rampant rumor, treachery, and dirty politics that lead to the crowning of a new King. Played without costume change, the role of Rumour is significantly expanded. After the Induction, he circulates within the rebel camp in 1.1, then becomes Peto in London, and later is among the nobles loyal to the crown. He whispers into the ear of the King, pours him wine, and even speaks some of Henry's lines in 3.1. Rumour is seen lying on the King's bed during Henry's reflection on sleep, and he offers Falstaff a jug of sack during a march. Further, Rumour is among the mourners in Hotspur's funeral procession, and he witnesses the dead Henry IV being carried from the stage. He is almost Puck-like in his impish power. He directs spotlights with waves of his arms, parts the curtains with claps of his hands, and points out characters and action during the play. The personified Rumour is ubiquitous, a pointedly tangible element of power politics.
The tavern scenes are brief, the merry times fleeting. Young's Falstaff is a joy, barking like a dog at Peto, prancing across the front of the stage, and literally dancing circles around the Chief Justice. Hal's 2.2 reunion with Poins, however, disintegrates into a shoving match, and at its conclusion, Hal presages his rejection of youth by angrily hurling Poins' ball high over the audience and out of the theatre. A smirking Rumour immediately steps onstage, carrying a similar ball that signifies the difficulty of Hal's rejection. Finally, the joviality of the 2.4 "drawer" scene, which features warm embraces and an ample splashing of sack, is cut short by the call to war.
Aging and disease are prominent motifs. Along with Bardolph's malmsy nose, Doll Tearsheet has facial scars and is missing a bottom tooth, and the skeletal Hostess Quickly is missing a top tooth and appears wraith-like with her hands frequently concealed within her blouse sleeves. Hal's influences - Falstaff and the King - are badly aged and seriously diseased, respectively: the gray-haired but balding Sir John suffers from pox and the gout, and he limps with a walking stick throughout the production; Henry is gaunt and pale, with red lesions across his face, and he suffers apoplectic fits. Sipes focuses on these two opposite influences, twice employing a kind of theatrical double exposure. First, after the defeat of the rebels, Falstaff intrudes upon the King's chamber to deliver his soliloquy in praise of strong drink. The King is seated on his throne, which spins around to reveal his deathbed. Later, with the dead King in Hal's arms, Falstaff lurches back onstage from the rear of the theatre - "oops, I missed the battle" - and sits with them on the bed as he casually addresses the audience.
A grim Hal rejects the influence of both his friend and his father, choosing instead to follow his own instincts. His tearful embrace of the dead Henry IV in 4.5 is depicted as a son's farewell rather than as a prince's acceptance of a king's methods. Hal's grief in this scene recalls his fond goodbye wave to Falstaff after the flash of frivolity in 2.4. During the 5.5 rejection - "I know thee not, old man" - Hal is purposeful and resolute: he is now King, and he denies both his youthful and princely sentiments.
Many scenes are effectively staged. The battle at Shrewsbury is recalled by five slow-motion single-combats waged around the playing child. Falstaff's letter to Hal is read by the fat knight himself, visible in the gallery above, seated at a writing desk with quill in hand. Henry's guilt over the murder of King Richard is revealed by the ghostly presence of the Bishop of Carlisle and his amplified prophesies from Richard II (4.1). Finally, when Hal becomes King, he runs to the gallery where he is spot lit as smoke surges around him, dramatically backlit in glowing green.
While Hal and Henry dominate later scenes - especially the crucial 4.5, when the furious King physically punishes the penitent Hal - it is Steve Young's portrayal of a sympathetic Falstaff that propels the early scenes, and, as with last season, is the most memorable.
Note: A version of this article was edited and published in Shakespeare Bulletin, Vol.13, No.4, Fall 1995.