I have been rewatching the 1979 BBC production of the plays Henry IV Parts I and II.  I think I understand the plays more now than when I read them decades ago in college.  The history plays of Shakespeare are some of his most difficult to comprehend unless you are familiar with the time and place of each play. The BBC series recaptures the era of the plays very well. I kind of wish the creators of the series had more money for the productions, but I think they were mostly successful with the fine acting and the accurate adaptations of the script.  The programs are highly recommended.  🙂

The BBC 1983 production of the three parts of Henry VI is something quite rare on television, and the three plays are not often performed live on stage.  The Globe Theatre may have done it in the UK and possibly Stratford Festival Theatre in Canada may have had the performances at least once. I am currently watching the BBC version, and I think it is quite good.  The plays seem to be easier to understand when viewing them on television since they are rather difficult to read. The miniseries, The Hollow Crown, which was made a few years ago, was a fairly good presentation of the history plays, but they are shortened although fortunately not modernized too much. I think I like the BBC version better since it probably is the closest to the original plays.

@narnian78 I must try to find them, perhaps in a library. 

In my one trip to Stratford in 1988, I saw a trio of plays, which were essentially Henry VI shortened into 2 plays, and Richard III. 

It was like a miniseries, as the same characters were seen. I enjoyed it, although at the time I commented that the Richard was played like Rowan Atkinson as Blackadder. I have a fondness for Richard III, although I understand why Shakespeare had to present him as a villain.

The plays were on in the morning,  afternoon, and evening. 

In 2001 I lived in London and was pleased when the Royal Shakespeare Co staged a lot of the history plays. I saw Henry 1V pt 1&2, and later Henry V. The latter disappointed me as it seemed to be set in a different era with no connection to the other two.

@coracle 

I don’t know if Britbox is available where you live. The streaming service is available here in the U. S., and it is not very expensive at $8.99 a month. It doesn’t have all 37 of the plays, although it does have many of them. The DVD’s, which are very expensive to buy, may be still available for borrowing in some libraries, but I am not sure since it was at least ten or fifteen years ago that they were released. Amazon may have some of the plays for streaming, but that may require a subscription. I am kind of tired of paying extra money for good television, but sometimes I do it anyway.  🙂

After rewatching the 1979 BBC production of Henry VIII last night I noticed that three of the actors were also involved in other television programs about C. S. Lewis and Narnia. They included Barbara Kellerman, Ronald Pickup, and Claire Bloom.  It was a very good version of the play as many others were in the BBC series The Shakespeare Plays.  It would have been nice if a higher budget were available for filming, but the acting and sets were very authentic to Shakespeare’s original play. The last time I saw the program was decades ago (in fact I had forgotten parts of it), and it looked much better to me this time. 🙂

Here is more about the 1979 production with a listing of the cast:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080860/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

I have finshed watching the BBC Shakespeare and found it very enjoyable.  I think it was the entire series, but I am not sure. There appeared to be some mistakes in the listings.  Some of the plays are listed under a different production such as a movie version that was made in another year.  I had to do some seaching to find a few of the the BBC versions, but apparently the entire series was there.  I was happy that the plays were available again after so many years. The series was not made on a high budget, but the acting was very good and the plays were quite faithful to the way that Shakespeare wrote them.   If you have Britbox the BBC series is well worth viewing. 🙂

Another very good series which compares well with the BBC’s Shakespeare is The Six Wives of Henry VIII.  It reminds me very much of the play Henry VIII since it has many of the same excellent production values, e.g. especially the fine acting. It is well worth viewing if you have Britbox. It was made in 1970 as a miniseries, and I think there is more actual history in it since it is longer and seems more historical in nature.  But I think all of Shakespeare’s history plays are excellent viewing and reading to understand their perspectives even if some of the history isn’t completely accurate. They are wonderful drama which anyone can explore.  🙂

@jasmine_tarkheena I love Hamlet, Macbeth, and Othello. I'm a sucker for tragedy, I guess 😆 🤣. 

@glimfeathergirl 

Othello is perhaps the my all time favorite! Even with all the controversy of being racist, it has a lot of emotion to it! So much about bitterness, envy, manipulation!

Hamlet is a well-known play. I'm sure CS Lewis would have known about it, given that Prince Caspian has often been viewed as a re-telling of Hamlet (except for the part about a father's ghost appearing or even the tragic ending).

@jasmine_tarkheena 

And Prince Rilian, when he was under the spell of the Lady of the Green Kirtle in The Silver Chair, looked much like Hamlet, which Lewis described in the book.  Rilian was very melancholic when he was controlled by the Lady.  

@narnian78 

It might be because it's been tradition for Hamlet to wear black. "To be or not to be: that is the question" is a well known monologue. I did it as a document proclamation in speech class when I was high school.

I've been wanting to read Shakespeare plays recently but my library recently got rid of its Complete Works of Shakespeare with footnotes (it was really old and beaten-up) and replaced it with a copy without footnotes. So I've been doing the best I can to remember what those footnotes were. 

I've been reading Shakespeare's series of plays on the Wars of the Roses (Henry VI Parts 1, 2 and 3 and Richard III.) Those are considered some of Shakespeare's least great plays (except for maybe Richard III) but I enjoy them (that is, I enjoy reading them; an actual production would probably gross me out with all the beheadings, etc.) and they're some of the Shakespeare plays that are easiest to decipher without the aid of extensive footnotes. 

That is, the language isn't too confusing. The actual history of the Wars of the Rose is, of course, very complicated. Narnia fans may remember when Lucy was having trouble following Trumpkin's explanation of the political situation in Prince Caspian, she said, "It's worse than the Wars of the Roses."  

My favorite Shakespeare to read is The Merchant of Venice, another controversial play. I know it's generally grouped amongst the comedies but I find it to be as much of a tragedy as a comedy. Shylock's "I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes, etc." is my favorite Shakespearean speech. The play is accused of antisemitism and the forced conversion of Shylock by Portia makes for uncomfortable reading/viewing but I think Shakespeare was doing his bit to challenge xenophobia.

Do any of you have a favorite edition when it comes to Shakespeare? I've been reading the RSC editions published by the Random House imprint Modern Library and really like them.

@narnian-in-the-north 

Probably my favorite editions of the plays are those of the Folger Shakespeare Library.  They are the easiest to read.  I have two collections of the complete works of Shakespeare, but the print is rather small although one of them (the one I used many years ago in college, edited by Craig and Bevington) has very good notes.  If you have editions of the individual plays they are usually the easiest to understand. 

@narnian78

I own a Complete Works published by Oxford University Press but it was so heavy I rarely read it. A few years ago I started to collect individual plays because I figured that was the only way I would ever start reading Shakespeare again.