Word: hotspurs
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With the brilliant Hotspur dead, the scenes of military rebellion can't begin to match those of 1 Henry IV, but they need not be such a trial as they are in this production. Northumberland (Stephen Pearlman) comes on looking like Basil Rathbone, but our hopes are dashed when that hoarse, ugly voice begins to speak, And so it goes with the rest, whom I shall not bother to name. The sole exception is David Little's Lancaster, which has youth, vigor and vocal clarity; he brings much-needed life to the scenes...
...Hotspur...
...Caedmon). There are those who believe that Falstaff is the greatest comic character in English literature, and these recordings will not disappoint them. Anthony Quayle's voice combines the tavern-soaked grossness of "fat Jack" with the agile wit and arrogant flair of Sir John. Michael Redgrave as Hotspur seems at times to get only false teeth into the part...
...splendid exceptions to this general carelessness in the minor roles are Aumerle (Louis Lopez-Cepero) and Harry Percy (Richard Cornish). Admittedly everyone knows the Hotspur young Percy will become, but Cornish has only about 20 lines to remind us of him, and he does so with grace and charm...
...Hamlin, I say, could have left the show to Falstaff. But Mr. Hamlin obviously has a conscience and something of a recognition that actors in Henry IV must interpret their characters with a really careful consistency. Hal, Hotspur, and King Henry in particular are always talking about themselves and about each other, and the very least they have to do (even if one completely discards the question of continuity with Richard II and Part Two) is to develop themselves on the stage to justify the descriptions. This Philip Kerr's Hotspur accomplishes splendidly. Begining as a simple hothead, "nettled...