Summary

In Act I, Prologue, the play opens and the Chorus appears on stage. The scene is first England, then France. The Chorus points out that the actors are constricted by space and scene. He asks if the stage could possibly hold the “vasty fields of France” and reminds the audience they will have to use their imaginations. The Chorus says the actors will talk about horses but the audience will have to imagine that the horses appear on stage. The Chorus ends his speech by asking that the audience be patience and hear the play “gently” and judge it “kindly.”

Act First, Scene I, takes place in “London, An Antechamber in the King’s Palace.” The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Ely enter the room. Canterbury says a bill that had previously been forgotten because of “unquiet times” has now resurfaced...