By LOU HARRY
While many companies have responded to the challenges facing post-lockdown theater by offering minimally cast shows and/or feel-good entertainments, the storied Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis has taken a very different approach.
Through May 25, it’s offering not one but three – well, technically four but with two combined – of Shakespeare’s interconnected history plays with a single, large cast.
To increase the challenge even further, it offered all three in a single day, April 13, for those willing to fully immerse.
The result, which I had the pleasure to attend, was a thrilling, satisfying and surprisingly not-exhausting experience.
This wasn’t the first time the Tony Award-winning regional theatrical powerhouse faced this challenge. There was a precedent for it in 1990, with a cast that included Joseph Haj, now the Guthrie’s artistic director and the director of the current trilogy.
Experiencing the work in one day this time felt more like seeing one extended work rather than three separate plays, so those catching them individually will likely have a very different experience than those of us did on the 13th. There’s an energy and a camaraderie that comes from such rare marathon experiences and it, of course, had an impact on my feelings toward each piece and the whole.
Any trepidations about the ability to grasp the goings on (often a concern among Shakespeare newbies or those who have only attended weak productions) were dismissed quickly in the opening moments of Richard II. The dispute between Bolingbroke (later Henry IV) and Thomas Mowbray came across as clearly as the conflict in an episode of “Judge Judy” and the drama lay not only in trying to figure out who was telling the truth but also how the nearly silent King Richard (Tyler Michaels King) would handle the matter. The manner in which he did not only set up the action that follows, but also revealed the aspects of his personality that lead to his losing the crown.
My last exposure to Richard II’s tale was in the Stratford Festival production during its 2023 season and, while that one offered a bold, visually and aurally striking experience, I never felt like I was seeing Shakespeare’s play. That’s far from the case here, where the production served the story, the characters, and the language. It made a compelling case for Richard II as a play that deserves a higher place on the list of most-produced Bard plays. (I don’t have hard evidence, but I’m guessing it ranks even lower than Cymbeline and Pericles.) In the hands of the Guthrie team, it proved to be damn entertaining theater.
After a lunch break – the Guthrie lured food trucks for those who didn’t opt for pre-paid boxed lunches – Bolingbroke was now the title king, opening the play just as Richard II did, but picking up the crown for the spotlit center stage and climbing the stairs to the throne.
The troubled king now had to deal not only with political rebels but with his rebellious son, who would rather hang out with the motley gang at a tavern than act the princely part. While never dull and rarely confusing, Henry IV proved the least impactful of the triad of plays in part because of the necessary truncation of two plays but also because of a too-youthful Falstaff (Jimmy Kieffer), who came across more of a former frat pal than a rival father figure to the king. With the split-loyalty dynamic largely missing – and with rushed plotting minimizing the clarity of Harry “Hotspur” Percy’s rebellion – even William Sturdivant’s nuanced take on the now-title role and Daniel José Molina’s troublemaking-and-ultimately resolute Prince Hal couldn’t make it feel more than an intermezzo with some standout moments.
A dinner break included time for a trip to the well-stocked Guthrie gift shop, where trilogy shirts were sold out but the book collection was well-stocked (I found a few that had not only eluded my collection but also my awareness).
The respect and appreciation for the overall event was evident at the onset of Henry V. This one began with a crown pick up echoing the first two. But unlike in those, Shakespeare creates a bridge with the audience via a chorus that reminds us of the limitations of the stage and encourages our imagination. Rather than give this part to one actor, director Haj spread the lines among the full cast, who, when amassed on stage, received a heartfelt and well-deserved standing ovation from the crowd.
There would be another at the end of the play.
In between, stood a fine production centered on the still youthful but now more mature king. Shakespeare gives this Henry inspirational speeches that locker-room coaches can only dream of mustering, yet Molina masterfully let us also see the trepidation that he can’t/won’t show his troops. It helps, too, that Erin Mackey’s Princess Katherine is a charmer in both French and fractured English and the awkward chemistry between her and Molina’s Henry made clear that there was hope for the ongoing relationship between England and France.
In all, the Guthrie’s ambitious Henried made for a remarkable day of remarkable plays adding up to a remarkable achievement from a remarkable company.
Wish you were there.
The Guthrie’s presentations of The History Plays – Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V – continues through May 25. For tickets, click here.
