Henry IV Pt. 2

**1/2 Part II has never been one of my favourite plays and on this occasion the starkness of both plot and set proved too much. There is to my mind, too much comedy in this history too far; the runt of the tetralogy methinks. Sher was again a worthy Falstaff of which Elizabeth would certainly have approved. Shallow is well performed but Silence is just plain irritating. The motley crew of conscripts do however amuse but Pistol is too wild and extreme a figure; alone he is striking, but in this production he is simply incongruous.