SOURCE: Billington, Michael. “May the Fourth Be with You.” Guardian (24 February 2001): 4.

In the following review, Billington praises Michael Attenborough's Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) staging of Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 for capturing the moral ambiguity inherent in Shakespeare's English epic.

It is widely accepted now that Henry IV Parts One and Two are the twin summits of Shakespeare's genius. Even if Michael Attenborough's production, in its move from Stratford's Swan to London's Barbican, seems visually austere—nothing much scenically except a raked, dun-coloured stage and an overhanging screen—it is tremendous where it truly matters: in conveying the endless moral ambivalence of Shakespeare's characters.

Take Falstaff. Poets and critics who don't go to the theatre much tend to sanctify the character: Swinburne wrote of his “moral elevation” and Auden compared him to Christ. But Desmond Barrit, far more than at Stratford, brings out superbly his mix of anarchic wit...