Player Kings, a modern reimagining of Shakespeare’s Henry IV Parts One and Two, had achieved a successful run at the West End’s Noel Coward Theatre in the Spring of 2024. The play was directed by Robert Icke, and starred Ted Lasso’s Toheeb Jimoh as Hal, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’s Richard Coyle as King Henry, and Gandalf himself, the legendary Ian McKellen as John Falstaff. The overwhelmingly positive response from audiences and critics to the play eventually led the company to announce a short National Tour that would come to Norwich’s Theatre Royal in July 2024.   

Unfortunately, disaster struck for many ticket buyers as McKellen took a fall off the front of the stage during one of the final performances in the play’s West End run. Despite the 85-year-old actor’s best attempts, he had to remove himself from the upcoming tour. McKellen’s star quality was, admittedly, what initially attracted me to Player Kings, and I arrived at Norwich Theatre on July 20th expecting to sit through three tedious hours of pretentious Shakespearean drama. However, Player Kings’ stellar acting performances and refreshing direction from Robert Icke was completely immersive and wholly entertaining. 

Being the actor chosen to replace Ian McKellen would be nothing short of terrifying, but David Semark’s performance as John Falstaff did not disappoint. McKellen’s absence was occasionally felt during the dramatic scenes that closed both acts, but the humour and charm that Semark bought to the role was incredibly entertaining. The near-constant bickering between the aging Falstaff and youthful Prince Hal, portrayed by Toheeb Jimoh in another stand out performance, was unexpectedly hilarious for a play so steeped in political drama. 

The chaotic nature of Semark and Jimoh was grounded by Richard Coyle’s deadly serious approach to portraying King Henry. The ailing King, who spends the majority of the second act lying in his bed, is a rather bland character compared other leads. Hal, for example, transforms from a young rebel into a prince desperate to seize political power from his father, the King.  However, Coyle maintains a commanding presence throughout the entirety of the play, gaining the sympathy of the audience as they eventually realise that King Henry never wanted power.  

The exceptional performances in Player Kings were only heightened by Robert Icke’s direction. Icke had previously proven his talent for adapting Shakespeare with the Almeida Theatre’s production of Hamlet in 2018, starring Andrew Scott. CCTV cameras were used to track the characters during the play, making Hamlet even more helpless when faced with an inevitable tragedy. In Player Kings, Icke continues to embed modern technology expertly, using subtitles to contextualise events in the play, keeping audience members fully immersed in the play’s often convoluted plot.  

Robert Icke’s approach to modernising Shakespeare refreshes a historical play that easily could have been pretentious, as director Jamie Lloyd’s new West End production of Romeo and Juliet has proved. The barren sets, moody lighting, and plain clothing of Lloyd’s production are, luckily, nowhere to be seen in Player Kings. In the first act of the play, Icke fills the stage with warmth, music, humour, and the stirrings of rebellion. However, following a memorable battle filled with real explosions and gruesome deaths at the end of the Henry IV Part One, the play’s initial liveliness is slowly absorbed by the darkness of politics and the familial drama that develops between Hal and King Henry. In his direction, Icke fully understands how to immerse an audience in the play’s world through his modern lens, whilst also honouring the original Shakespearean material.   

Player Kings, despite Ian McKellen’s absence, was an incredible production that Shakespeare lovers will undoubtedly praise as the best adaptation of the bard’s work this year. I hope to see a filmed performance of this play reach cinemas soon, as Robert Icke’s Hamlet did in 2018, so audiences who missed the play’s short run can experience a Shakespeare adaptation that perfectly aligns with the modern age. 

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