Word: falstaffs
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Then of course there are Falstaff and his companions, whom Shakespeare put in the play not for comic relief but as a parallel to, and a commentary on, the main-history plot. In Shakespeare's lifetime, Falstaff was spoken of more than any other character, and the work circulated in a half dozen editions, always with a reference to the "humorous conceits" of Falstaff in the subtitle. Since then the role has been written about more than any other except Hamlet, and so tempting has it been for players that even women have acted the part professionally...
...Falstaff is generally regarded the greatest comic figure in English literature, and more will agree with Orson Welles that it is "the best role that Shakespeare ever wrote" than will share Bernard Shaw's narrow view of the man as "a besotted and disgusting old wretch." We find in him features drawn from the miles gloriosus of ancient Roman comedy, from the stage Vice, Devil, Fool, and Lord of Misrule, from Rabelais and Heaven knows what else-all heightened through Shakespeare's astonishing inventiveness into something far greater than the sum of his parts...
...Cambridge community has over the years been treated to some remarkable Falstaffs. Jerome Kilty was an amazing Falstaff already as a Harvard student; and he has often done the role since, even (in the 1966 2 Henry IV) on the AST's own stage. One recalls fondly the portrayal by the late Harvard professor Daniel Seltzer, and the touring 1960 traversal by Eric Berry. Building on his experience, Barry went on to achieve in the AST's 1962 production of I Henry IV an embodiment that was in every way stupendous...
This time around, the AST has the services of that wonderful actor Roy Dotrice, whose portrayal of the aging John Aubrey in Brief Lives has, on four occasions, been a peak in my play going experience. If not yet in a class with Kilty and Berry, Dotrice's Falstaff (his first, I believe) is stunning all the same. He is quite at home in Falstaff's language-whether parodistic, satiric, prevaricatory, or just witty-and has amassed a line repertory of gestures and other movements to go with...
...captures Falstaff's deep love for Hal, a love that is nothing less than paternal (for Falstaff is as much Hal's father as is King Henry); he is quick to tousle the youth's hair or put his arm around Hal's shoulders And he makes "If to be old and merry be a sin" as touching as Shylock's "Hath not a Jew eyes" Chalk up another triumph for the doting Dotrice...