King Henry IV, William Shakespeare
King Henry IV, William Shakespeare
List: $6.95 | Sale: $4.87
Club: $3.47

King Henry IV
The Shadow of Succession

Author: William Shakespeare, Charles Newell, David Bevington

Narrator: Harry Althaus, Full Cast

Unabridged: 1 hr 58 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/01/2008


Synopsis

Shakespeare’s riveting, epic drama of a family in crisis, and a country on the brink of civil war. Wracked by illness and tormented by guilt, King Henry IV fears for England’s future after his death. The heir to the throne, Prince Hal, seems intent only on a life of debauchery in the company of the dissolute – but hilarious – Sir John Falstaff. As war looms and the stakes increase, father and son struggle to face their destinies – and each other.

An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring:
Harry Althaus as Earl Of Westmoreland and Justice Shallow
William Brown as King Henry IV
Wilson Cain III as Earl Of Northumberland and Bardolph
Michael J. Cargill as Thomas, Duke Of Clarence and Peto
Tony Dobrowolski as Earl Of Worcester and Chief Justice
Lisa A. Dodson as Mistress Quickly & Nurse
Shawn Douglass as Prince John and Poins
Raul Esparza as Hotspur and Pistol
Raymond Fox as Prince Henry
Ned Mochel as The Douglas and The Messenger
Nicholas Rudall a Sir John Falstaff
Doran Schrantz as Humphrey, Duke Of Gloucester & Doll Tearsheet

About William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born in April 1564 in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, on England’s Avon River. When he was eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway. The couple had three children—an older daughter Susanna and twins, Judith and Hamnet. Hamnet, Shakespeare’s only son, died in childhood. The bulk of Shakespeare’s working life was spent in the theater world of London, where he established himself professionally by the early 1590s. He enjoyed success not only as a playwright and poet, but also as an actor and shareholder in an acting company. Although some think that sometime between 1610 and 1613 Shakespeare retired from the theater and returned home to Stratford, where he died in 1616, others believe that he may have continued to work in London until close to his death.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Bill on November 16, 2019

I have read this play many times, and--although Shakespeare always shows me something new--this reading gave me little insight and few surprises. I was struck with two parallels, however--one within the play itself, and one within Shakespeare's body of work. First of all, I appreciated the subtle pa......more

Goodreads review by Leonard on May 22, 2021

After Richard II, this is the second episode of Shakespeare’s major Histories (the events that will lead up to the Wars of the Roses). This play is not so much about Bolingbroke/Henry IV, as it is the first of a vast trilogy on Prince Hal/Henry V — from Eastcheap to Azincourt. The first part of Henr......more

Goodreads review by Sean Barrs on May 10, 2016

How hard it must be to fight an enemy you admire; how hard it must be to realise your enemy is a stronger, and perhaps more worthy, man than your son, and how great it must be to realise that you are such a hypocritical fool, and that your son is more than you ever dreamed. But first, you must lamen......more