Henry IV

“While you live, tell truth, and shame the devil!” William Shakespeare’s epic story of Henry IV tells the story of King Henry facing against Hotspur, while his son Prince Hal is off drinking with Falstaff. A play about loyalty, war, and growing up, this is an epic tale from history that often gets over looked. In this production, director Patrick Downes has adapted Part 1 and Part 2 into a single performance, keeping the best parts and presenting a unified vision of the play. Taking advantage of what the New Fortune stage has to offer, this show brings Shakespeare directly to the people and immersing the audience in the action. When Hotspur refuses an order from King Henry IV, she is summoned to answer to the King. Frustrations between the two grow, and Hotspur leaves to gather her armies of loyal compatriots to take the crown that she was instrumental is securing for Henry. Meanwhile, Prince Hal is lazing about with Sir John Falstaff and his friends, enjoying the freedom of his life. With war looming, Prince Hal is summoned to the battlefield and needs to decide if he will continue to be the layabout, or step up to support his father and the kingdom. GRADS Theatre Company’s Summer Shakespeare season is a staple of the theatrical year, and this is not the time to miss out. “Presume not that I am the thing I was.”

When the play opens, the Welsh rebel Glendower has defeated King Henry's army in the South, and the young Harry Percy (nicknamed Hotspur), who is supposedly loyal to King Henry, is refusing to send to the king the soldiers whom she has captured in the North. King Henry summons Hotspur back to the royal court so that she can explain her actions.