The Hollow Crown: Henry IV Part 1, BBC Two
Less quiet, this one, a little less good,
Less sure in its televisual technique,
A little more staged & a bit less tweaked
For the medium in which it’s slightly stood.
It’s not bad, it’s just what we expect from TV
Shakespeare, wide-laughing, thigh-slapping Hal & Poins,
The melancholy speech of Russell Beale’s
Falstaff ‘supported’ by over incidental noise;
But worst of it, I’m afraid, is Harry Hotspur.
If I wanted one-note Geordie-man rage
Then I know where to find it, here I’d prefer
Someone who just says the words on the page.
The first gave more hope for this tetralogy,
Seems they may not be working to one strategy.
(Source: fanpop.com)
