The chimes at midnight will ring a bit longer in Philadelphia this month.
Revolution Shakespeare is tackling Orson Welles’ ambitious epic 1939 production of Five Kings.
Theater critics savaged the Mercury Theatre’s five-hour production, which never made it to Broadway. It starred Welles as Sir John Falstaff and Burgess Meredith as Prince Hal.
Marking the 450th anniversary of the Bard’s birth, Revolution Shakespeare will stage Welles’ production over five nights.
Directed by Tom Reing , it will be broken down into five one-hour parts. Each episode will be staged in a different gallery at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The drama will be staged on Wednesday nights: July 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30. Welles’ cast of 57 has been reduced to 11.
Revolution Shakespeare’s performances are free with admission to the museum.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the five episodes are:
Part 1 ends with rambunctious Hal (Akeem Davis) and his father, King Henry IV (Jared Delaney), reconciling.
Part 2 ends with the death of Hotspur, played by Sean Bradley, who is also the fight choreographer. In this scene, six swordfights take place simultaneously – presumably without laying waste to any art.
Part 3 ends with Hal’s painful denial of his rowdy old friend Falstaff.
Part 4 ends with the famous “a little touch of Harry in the night” Agincourt battlefield speech.
Part 5 ends with the marriage of Hal, now King Henry V, and Catherine of France (Felicia Leicht).
Welles’ interest in the story of Falstaff is legendary.
He staged an early adaptation, Winter of Our Discontent as a youth at the Todd School for Boys in Woodstock, Illinois. He based his 1966 movie, Chimes at Midnight, on the same material.
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