Henry IV - Donmar 2004

Opened 4 May 2004
Written By Luigi Pirandello, in a new version by Tom Stoppard
Directed Michael Grandage
Cast Ian McDiarmid, Francesca Annis, Stuart Burt, Robert Demeger, Tania Emery, James Lance, Neil McDermott, Brian Poyser, Nitzan Sharron, Orlando Wells, David Yelland
Synopsis An Italian nobleman falls from his horse during a pageant. When he comes round, he believes he's his carnival character, the medieval German Emperor, King Henry IV. For twenty years he has lived this illusion, aided by a wealthy relative who sets him up in an 11th century castle, complete with a retinue of costumed courtiers. Today a plot is being hatched to shock him out of this 'madness' and into the twenty-first century...

What the critics had to say.....
NICHOLAS DE JONGH for THE EVENING STANDARD says, "This Henry IV is something of a revelation." MICHAEL BILLINGTON for THE GUARDIAN says, "It is good to see the play again...But, in the end, it is a production in which raw passion is always subservient to intellectual cleverness." CHARLES SPENCER for THE DAILY TELEGRAPH says, "Lively new version." IAN JOHNS for THE TIMES says, "The triumph of this production is that it does not feel like the end of some metaphysical juggling act but the conclusion to a tragedy of love, concealment and loss."

External links to full reviews from popular press
The Guardian
Daily Telegraph
The Times

Originally published on

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