Grice e Pirandello

 Study guide for

Pirandello’s

HENRY IV

In a new version by

Tom Stoppard

1Contents

Section 1: Cast list and plot summary 3

Section 2: A performance history of Henry IV 5

Early Italian stagings of Henry IV and subsequent

productions in Britain 5

The performance history in context 7

HENRY IV in a new version by Tom Stoppard at the Donmar, 2004 8

Section 3: Section 4: Key concepts and ideas in the Pirandellian play 9

The Face and the Mask 9

The Theatre of the Looking Glass 9

Costruisi – building yourself up A play about time 10

Themes of Madness, Reality & Illusion 10

11

The role of set design and costume in HENRY IV Design concepts for the production Design concepts for ‘the play within a play’ 12

12

12

The Portraits 13

Section 5: Pirandello in relation to other theatre practitioners 16

Pirandello and Stoppard 16

Pirandello and Stanislavski 16

Pirandello and Shakespeare 17

Pirandello and Pirandello 17

Section 6: The rehearsal process Approaching rehearsals for HENRY IV Inside the rehearsal room 18

Practical work on the text 18

18

22

Section 7: Follow-up material 25

Assessing the production 25

Ideas for further practical work 25

Section 8: Biographies of non-fictional characters referred

to in the script 26

Section 9: Bibliography and suggestions for further study 27

2section

1

Cast list and plot summary

‘Henry IV is a play about madness, time, aging, masks, and the attempt to

escape from one reality and substitute another of one’s own making. In this

substitution we see a man attempt to control his life in the same way that a

playwright shapes his play or an actor his character’

Richard Oliver, Dreams of Passion: The Theatre of Luigi Pirandello1

Cast

In order of appearance

Harold: Stuart Burt

Landolf: James Lance

Ordulf: Neil McDermott

Bertold: Nitzan Sharron

Giovanni: Brian Poyser

Marquis Carlo Di Nolli: Orlando Wells

Baron Tito Belcredi: David Yelland

Marchese Matilda: Francesca Annis

Frida: Tania Emery

Doctor: Robert Demeger

Henry IV: Ian McDiarmid

Photograph by Ivan Kyncl

Creative Team

Director: Michael Grandage

Designer: Christopher Oram

Lighting Designer: Neil Austin

Music & Sound Score: Adam Cork

Sound Designer: Fergus O’Hare

◊ Ian McDiarmid as Henry IV in Tom

Stoppard’s version of Pirandello’s

HENRY IV, Donmar 2004

3Plot summary

The play opens in what appears to be the throne room of the 11th century Holy

Roman Emperor Henry IV. It soon transpires that courtiers in medieval costumes

are taking part in a charade in present day Italy. They have been hired to pretend

to be the counsellors of a mad nobleman who has believed himself to be Henry IV

since falling off a horse 20 years earlier. The accident took place during a pageant

in which the nobleman was dressed as the Emperor Henry IV. His wealthy sister

– who has recently died – provided him with the palace and the followers to enable

him to live out his delusion.

In Act One, a group of aristocrats arrive to meet Henry. They are:

The Marquis di Nolli - Henry’s Nephew, the son of his recently deceased sister

Frida - Di Nolli’s fiancée

Matilda - Frida’s Mother and the woman whom Henry was formerly in

love with.

Belcredi – Matilda’s lover and Henry’s old rival

Genoni – A Doctor

The aristocrats have to dress up in 11th century style costumes and assume the

roles of characters known to the Emperor, Henry IV, before they can meet him.

In Act Two, the aristocrats – led by the Doctor – initiate a strategy to shock Henry

out of his madness. Frida and Di Nolli are dressed in masquerade costumes to

resemble the young Henry and Matilda. They are to stand in front of two portraits

of the young Henry and Matilda - painted in the costumes worn during the fateful

pageant when Henry was still young and sane.

Meanwhile, Henry reveals to his counsellors that he is not mad at all; after 12

years of believing he was actually Henry IV, he then became conscious of his true

identity, although chose to continue to live out his created fiction of madness.

When the masqueraded Frida in Act Three confronts Henry, he is almost driven

mad again by seeing what he thinks is the portrait of Matilda come to life. When

Belcredi accuses Henry of play-acting, Henry takes his revenge and stabs Belcredi

to death. Having acted in sanity, he is now perceived to be actually mad and the

play ends with his realisation that he has now trapped himself in the role of the

mad Emperor for the rest of his life.

4section

2

A performance history of

Henry IV

Early Italian stagings of Henry IV and

subsequent productions in Britain.

Milan, 1922

The first production of Henry IV was staged at the Teatro Manzoni, Milan, on 24

February 1922. It was performed by Ruggero Ruggeri’s Company, with Ruggeri

playing the title role.

Rome, 1925

The play was revived at the Teatro Argentina, Rome, on the 11 June 1925 by Luigi

Pirandello’s Company.

Britain, 1924 and 1925

This was followed by a European tour where the play received its first professional

British staging at the New Oxford Theatre in late June 1925 – albeit in Italian –

again, with Ruggeri playing the title role. (There had been an amateur production

of the play at the Amateur Dramatic Club, Cambridge, 7 June 1924, translated by

Edward Storer):

Madness, whether treated poetically as by Shakespeare, or ironically, as by

Pirandello, is always a moving spectacle. It becomes terrible at the hands of

Ruggero Ruggeri.

The Times, 19 June 1925

Later in the same year, the play received another production at the Everyman

Theatre, Hampstead, with Ernest Milton in the title role. The translation used was

again by Edward Storer:

Mr Milton was better than the actor in the A.D.C.’s (the Amateur Dramatic Club,

Cambridge) production of a year ago – as perhaps can go without saying, as

the comparison is that of a professional against amateur – but he was also more

interesting, I thought, even than the star tragedian of Signor Pirandello’s Company

that recently appeared in London.

Unmarked Newspaper Review, Theatre Museum Archives

5Mr Milton did, from this first entrance, with his horribly unreal flaxen hair, his

haggard painted cheeks, and his pale robe of sackcloth hanging on him like a

shroud, stamp on the audience once and for all the shuddering horror of an

apparition from another world – not from the world beyond the grave, but from the

world of one who has entered the grave in his own lifetime.

Unmarked Newspaper Review, Theatre Museum Archives

London, 1953

The play was next revived in London at St James’ Theatre on 20 April 1953, when

Ruggero Ruggeri – at the age of 82 – returned to London with another Italian

production of the play.

Everything hangs on the part of the “Emperor” who explores the no-mans land

between illusion and so-called truth, and Signor Ruggeri, who played the part so

memorably in 1925, is an actor who even now has the power to make us shy over

our shadows: a sly glint in the eye, a speaking hand movement, and a power to

surprise us which mark the great interpreter.

Manchester Guardian, 22 April 1953

London, 1973

London didn’t see its next staging of Henry IV until February 1974, when Rex

Harrison played Henry at Her Majesty’s Theatre. Clifford William’s directed:

Harrison assumes the pursy, dropsical look of the incarcerated invalid. On each

bloated cheek is a dab of red paint. The hair is lank, the skin bewhiskered, the head

rigid and strained, the eyes almost blind. Yet he has a chilling majesty, querulously

issuing high, off-hand orders and dominating the court like a ruined cathedral in its

close.

Daily Telegraph, 21 February 1974.

London, 1990

The play’s most recent London production was in May 1990 at the Wyndham’s

Theatre with Richard Harris playing Henry:

…from the moment when he suddenly removes his Henry IV make-up and wig and

declares, with a breathtakingly, blokey casualness that he is ‘so bloody bored’ with

the whole pretence, Harris plays the part with a wonderfully tamed and caustic

daring.

‘He who plays the king’, Paul Taylor, The Independent, 26 May 1990

6The performance history of Henry IV in context.

Pirandello ranks in importance with Goldoni in the Italian theatre and has had a

major influence on the development of modern European drama. Why, then, has

Henry IV received so few revivals in Britain since the first professional production

staged here eighty years ago?

The British Theatre wanting to capture the ‘zeitgeist’ of modern European drama

can best explain the early productions that were staged in Britain. In a post- First

World War Britain, where the ideas of Sigmund Freud were being embraced

into the culture, it seems fitting that audiences should be drawn to a play that

explores the boundaries of illusion and reality in such a profound way. Freud had

revealed the multi-dimensionality of personality, as well as the unconscious. It was

Pirandello’s transformation of these thoughts from theory to artistic creation that

was so timely for audiences throughout Europe.

However, the play was perceived to be problematic in terms of its staging, which

could account for it not being revived in London again until nearly twenty years

after Pirandello’s death and nearly a decade after the Second World War. The

plot was deemed to be complex, with the opening of the play taken up with the

exposition of plot and details relating to Henry IV and his relationship with Pope

Gregory. Indeed, writing about the 1953 London revival in The Daily Mail, Cecil

Wilson commented that ‘even the Italian Ambassador, Signor Brosio, confessed in

the interval that he could hardly find his way through the maze.’

The rationale for the subsequent revival in 1974 was attributed by some of the

critics to the general interest in the ideas of R. D. Laing at the time. Michael

Billington, writing in the Guardian, was struck by the production’s ‘extraordinary

resonant modernity’:

…when Henry claims that the madman “can challenge your logic with a logic of his

own” and that the sane man says a thing can’t be while the madman says everything

can be, we are plunged straight into the world of R. D. Laing

The Guardian, 21 February 1974

Irving Wardle noted that ‘in Langian terms, he (Henry) has retreated into the

eleventh-century masquerade as a strategy for living in an unlovable situation.’

When Billington saw the play again, during its revival at the Wyndham’s Theatre

in 1990 in the latter years of the Thatcher Government, it appeared to him to be ‘a

tougher, harsher work about a man trapped inside a historical mask, denied wife,

child or ordinary human contact.’ A solitary protagonist, viewed by an audience

who’s Prime Minister had told them there was ‘no such thing as Society’.

7Photograph by Ivan Kyncl

Ÿ Ian McDiarmid as Henry IV

in Tom Stoppard’s version of

Pirandello’s HENRY IV, Donmar

2004

Henry IV in a new version by Tom Stoppard at

the Donmar Warehouse, 2004

Michael Grandage, the Donmar’s Artistic Director and the director of HENRY IV,

recognised the problematic areas of the play - as discussed in the previous

section – feeling that the original play was a somewhat impenetrable piece for a

contemporary theatre audience. This is why he commissioned Tom Stoppard to

create a new version of the play; to bring it to life and make it watchable. The key

creative decision made when conceiving this new version of the play was to place

HENRY IV’s Medieval Court against a contemporary backdrop. The production

is therefore set in 2004 as opposed to the 1920s – the setting contemporary

to Pirandello at the time of writing the play. The production has been given a

deliberately modern feel, with, for example, the ‘aristocrats’ appearing in this

season’s Georgio Armani designs when they arrive at Henry’s court.

‘This translation flows; it has passion and humour. You can hear Tom Stoppard’s

voice in the play.’

Charlie Westenra, Assistant Director

8section

3

Key concepts and ideas in

the Pirandellian play

This section looks at the fundamental concepts and ideas behind Pirandello’s plays

– with particular reference to Henry IV. See how many of these ideas you can

identify when you watch the Donmar’s production of the play.

The Face and the Mask

The main idea behind most of Pirandello’s plays is that Life (or reality or time) is

fluid and indefinable and that man uses reason to give life definition. But, because

life is indefinable such concepts are illusions. Man is sometimes aware of this

illusionary nature of his concepts, but ‘anything without structure fills him with

dread and uncertainty’.2 The drama that Pirandello created from this idea is usually

described with reference to the face and the mask. The face represents the

complex suffering of the individual; the mask represents the external form and

social laws. For Pirandello, all social institutions and systems of thought – from

religion and law to philosophy and morality – are ways in which society creates

a mask, fixing the face of man by classifying him. As well as the mask being put

on the face by the external world, Pirandello believed that it could often be the

construct of internal demands. The mask can sometimes be literal, as in his play

Six Characters in Search of an Author, or take the form of costumes, make-up and

props, as in Henry IV. It can also be a metaphorical concept.

The Theatre of the Looking Glass

Man’s acceptance by society of a superimposed identity is the concept behind

Pirandello’s teatro dello specchio (theatre of the looking glass). The image of the

mirror and reflection occurs in most of his plays. However, the reflecting mirror is

the inner eye as well as the eye of the world.

The portraits of the young Henry and Matilda hung in the throne room exemplify

this idea:

LANDOLF: they’re paintings to the touch. But to Himself, seeing as he never

touches them…to him they’re more like, whatsits, representations

of – yes – what you’d see in a mirror. That one is him just as he

is, in this throne room which is right in every detail, no surprises,

see? If it was a mirror, you’d see yourself in the eleventh century.

So that’s what he sees. Himself. So it’s like mirrors reflecting back

a world which comes to life in them, like it will for you, you’ll see,

don’t worry.

HENRY IV by Tom Stoppard, Act One.

9Costruirsi – building yourself up

When Pirandello’s characters put on their masks to hide their shameful faces, they

are building themselves up into a role, such as the role of the madman as taken

on by the nobleman in Henry IV. This is what Pirandello’s term costruirsi refers to.

The term becomes even more complex when considering the way in which Henry

builds himself into a role: he is not simply playing Henry IV; he is playing the older

Henry IV playing the young, 26 year old Henry of the portrait, from which he longs

to be freed. With his dyed hair and his rouged cheeks, he enacts a masquerade

within a masquerade.

HENRY: A woman who wishes she were a man…an old man who wishes

he were young…None of us lies or pretends – what happens is,

in all sincerity, we inhabit the self we have chosen for ourselves,

and don’t let go. But while you’re holding tight, gripping on to your

monk’s robe, Monsignor, from out your sleeve something

slithers without you noticing: your life!

HENRY IV by Tom Stoppard, Act One

⁄ Francesca Annis

as Matilda in Tom

Stoppard’s version of

Pirandello’s HENRY IV,

Donmar 2004

A play about time.

The passing of time is a central theme in

Henry IV. Henry has a need to live in his

youth; yet at the same time he has lost

eighteen years of his original life, including

the twelve years after the accident that

have been stolen from him - when he was

oblivious to his existence.

‘Henry IV’ is a play about the process of time,

its relativity, and its constant and unstoppable

passing. It is also about a man’s most critical

experience of time’s passing – aging. The

process of growing old – of becoming a

series of other persons, physically as well as

psychologically, of remembering what one

once looked like and acted like – is dealt

with graphically. The fixity of one’s image

in the past (as represented concretely by the

paintings of Henry and Matilda) is contrasted

with the change of image in the present,

including the use of makeup in a futile attempt

to stop the change of time and make life

conform to the image of the past.’

Dreams of Passion: The Theatre of Luigi

Pirandello by Roger Oliver, page 131

10Themes of Madness, Reality & Illusion

MATILDA: ‘I’ll never forget it, those faces…distorted, appalled in the face of his

fury, which was no longer a masquerade but madness unmasked -

HENRY IV by Tom Stoppard, Act One

Henry’s madness is inextricably linked to notions of reality and illusion. There is no

doubt that Henry’s madness resulted from the knock to his head acquired during

the fall from his horse at the pageant. However, we discover that he is ‘playing’

the madman when he declares himself sane in Act II; yet he laughs ‘insanely’

according to the stage directions in Act III as he takes Frida in his arms prior to

his ‘mad’ act of killing Belcredi. Before killing Belcredi, Henry has the choice of

dropping his persona as Henry IV; after it, he will be trapped inside the persona, as

he was when his madness was real. The theatrical metaphor has been extended:

the mask has become a reality and he must now give his performance as Henry IV

forever.

Discussion Point

Our culture seems to have become

pre-occupied with glimpsing into the

‘real’ world of other people’s lives,

from exposes of celebrities in tabloid

newspapers, to reality TV shows. To

what extent are we presented with

‘real’ or ‘constructed’ truths through

these media?

Practical Excercise

How would you approach playing the role of Henry IV? Give particular thought to

how you would contrast your performance as the ‘real’ Henry with the ‘mad’ Henry.

In pairs, put your ideas into practice by rehearsing this short section form Act II,

where Henry brings to a close his audience with the ‘aristocrats’ in their feigned

guises. Take it in turns to play Henry, with the other person taking on the role of

director.

HENRY: “ …(to the Doctor) What I think, Monsignor, is that ghosts for the most part

are fragments of the unconscious escaping from our dreams, and sometimes when we

see them wide-awake, in broad daylight, they startle us. I’m always frightened in the

night when they appear – so many disjointed images, people laughing, riders got down

from their horses…I’m frightened sometimes by the blood pounding through my vains

in the stillness of the night, like the heavy thud of footsteps in distant rooms… but

I’ve kept you standing here long enough. My respects, Duchess, and regards to you,

Monsignor.

(Matlida and the Doctor bow in return, and leave. Henry closes the door and turns

around, changed.)

What a bunch of wankers! I played them like a piano with a different colour for every

key – I only had to touch them – white, red, yellow and green – and that other one,

Peter Damien! – Ha! I saw through him alright! He didn’t dare show his face again!”

HENRY IV by Tom Stoppard, Act Two

11section

4

The role of set design and

costume in HENRY IV

Setting and costume are integral both to Henry’s creation of his Medieval world

and to Pirandello in his creation of the world of the play.

Design concepts for the production

The Throne Room – where the play opens – is where Henry receives his visitors

and gives his performance. The text intimates that it has been built to give the

impression of being in an 11th century palace – but behind the scenes has the

trappings of twenty fi rst century living – such as electricity. As mentioned earlier,

the Donmar’s production has been given a deliberately modern feel, with, for

example, the ‘aristocrats’ appearing in this seasons Armani designs when they

arrive at Henry’s court, emphasising the notion of all the characters – not just

Henry – building themselves up into a role to present themselves to society. This

contemporary style of dress will also emphasis the confl ict between past and

present in strikingly visual terms.

Observation point

After you have seen the production, assess the overall visual impact of the play, in terms of the

way set and costumes were used to highlight the central ideas of the piece.

Design concepts for ‘the play within a play’

The counsellors stress the need for the visitors to wear medieval costumes when

they meet Henry and enter his illusionary world. As the counsellors dress Matilda,

Belcredi and the Doctor for their meeting with Henry, they emphasise that the

person they have chosen to represent is unimportant: different people often

meet Henry in the same costume as the same historical character. As Landolf

says, Henry ‘doesn’t take in faces, only clothes’. In a society so pre-occupied with

‘surface’ values, it is natural that such an assumption should be made.

When the visitors fi nally meet Henry, he comments on his dyed hair colour as if it

were real. The stage directions read that he ‘shows Matilda his hair colour, almost

coquettishly’ saying ‘Look! Still blond!’ Yet later in the scene he intimates that he

is aware of the construction that he has created:

HENRY: We all hug our idea of ourselves to ourselves. As our hair turns

greyer, we keep pace with the colouring bottle. It is of no

consequence that I fool nobody. You, Duchess, don’t fool yourself

or anybody else – perhaps the image in your mirror, just a tiny bit.

I do it to amuse myself. You do it in earnest. But no amount of

12ÿ Orlando Wells as Di

Nolli in Tom Stoppard’s

version of Pirandello’s

HENRY IV, Donmar 2004

Discussion Point

Read the following extract from a newspaper

article printed recently on the front page of The

Times newspaper:

‘ “I have measured out my life with photo

opportunities”. The thoughts, no doubt, of David

Beckham as he responded last night to the latest

outburst of publicity by courting more publicity.

He went to the Royal Albert Hall, in the close and

affectionate company of Mrs Beckham, wearing a

new and dramatic haircut. Gone was the Legolas

look, banished the ponytail., a no-hair haircut

redolent of Buddhist humility….he also wore rosary

beads in case anybody missed the point…The

couple were described as being “very touchy-

feely”. Their affection, like everything else in their

lives, seems to have little reality until performed in

public.’

‘The Beckhams stage a command performance, by

Simon Barnes, The Times, 20th April 2004.

How conscious do you believe Beckam’s decision

was to ‘construct’ an image for the public on this

occasion?

What sort of ‘mask’ did he wish to represent to

them and what props and costume did he use to

achieve this?

earnestness stops it being a masquerade, and

I’m not referring to your cloak and coronet.

I’m talking about a memory of yourself you

want to hold tight, the memory of a day gone

by when to be fair-haired was your delight

– or dark haired if you were dark. The faded

memory of being young.’

HENRY IV by Tom Stoppard, Act One

Observation point

After you have seen the production, assess

the overall importance of the portraits to the

play’s central themes and ideas.

The Portraits

A key feature in the room is two ‘portraits’. In this production

they are represented as old style, sepia photographs,

as opposed to paintings, in order to emphasise the

contemporary feel of the play. The photos are of Henry and

Matilda – the woman he loved at the time of the accident

– as they appeared in Medieval dress at the masquerade.

13

Photograph by Ivan KynclInterview

Su-Fern Lee - the Donmar’s volunteer in the Development

Department - interviews the Designer of HENRY IV,

Christopher Oram and asks him about his inspiration for

the play

SFL: Henry IV by Tom Stoppard, Can you tell me

how you started work on HENRY IV?

CO: Well HENRY has been quite a challenging

show to research. First of all, there is the

assumption that it is about Henry IV of England.

Everyone assumes that it is by Shakespeare,

or assumes it is a version of the Shakespeare

story about Falstaff. In fact, you are looking at a

whole different era and the truth about Henry IV

of Germany is that he lived in the 11th century

and that consequently he is practically un-

researchable. He is very old, about 1000 years

old, and lived in a period closer to the Roman

Empire than to the medieval world. Hardly

anything from that period still exists and what

does exist is gothic cathedral art, manuscripts and

a few paintings. So trying to find out about him

is very difficult. There is only one picture which

claims to be Henry IV, but it is a generic medieval

figure with a crown and could practically be

anybody!

This is both good and bad – on one level, nobody

knows if I get it wrong, and I feel in reasonably

safe territory. But the play is not just about Henry

IV of Germany, it is a madman in 2004 thinking

that he is Henry IV. So the costumes are not

historical re-enactment costumes and are not the

real clothes of the period, but are actually carnival

costumes from a fancy dress party. There is also

within the context of the play, a sort of cheat in

that to support Henry’s madness, people have

created this world around him so that the scenery

is in fact scenery and the costumes are in fact

costumes.

In terms of the scenery, I have made a particularly

strong choice with the scale of the columns in

HENRY IV - I wanted them to look big and epic.

The less you put on the stage, the bigger the

space seems. So I am playing a game to try and

create a sense of claustrophobia by using massive

architectural elements that I hope suggest the

world is even bigger than what is actually visible.

We are going to dwarf these characters with the

pillars in the same way Henry’s mania dwarfs the

play. The scale of the environment is reflective of

his megalomania and the fact that he truly thinks

he is Henry IV.

SFL: Is everything being especially created for

this show?

CO: Everything is being specially made - all the

medieval stuff and the costumes of 11th century

German Royalty. But the costumes are made for

people from Italy, so they are light weight fabrics

as opposed to say coarse wool. We are creating

everything in lightweight linens because the play

is set in Italy, and we have a fantastic excuse to

change things. I think the girls don’t have to have

period medieval slippers, they can have lovely

stilettos because they would want to look taller

and more graceful and elegant. So I can really

dress them up! The balance is to enjoy the cheat,

and not be painfully accurate about the whole

thing.

There is a line in the play that is very unhelpful

- it says the characters have the best costume

makers in Italy make their costumes. It’s difficult

for us because we had a really strict budget for

this! I know that if one were these people, the

costumes would probably be more ornate and

that they would spend more money on them. I

had to make choices aesthetically and financially

and you realise that the more you embroider

something the more it costs. Put simply, we had

to choose where we were going to energise the

resources we had. For this show we needed

contemporary costumes and period costumes

and an awful lot of other stuff. It’s a lot to manage

for a teeny tiny theatre with a teeny tiny budget.

14SFL: And the play has a large cast as well.

CO: Yes, it is a very large cast, which is part of

the excitement of doing it. It’s not one of those

plays with only two people where everything is

very static. Here you have a lot of people running

around and a lot of big costumes.

SFL: With so many people on stage does that

mean that your set is very pared down?

CO: I have done nine shows here at the Donmar

and I have a pretty good understanding of how

the stage works. You can’t fill it with scenery,

because although it can look fabulous from the

front two rows of the theatre, three-quarters of

the audience don’t sit there. I would feel terrible

if people in the audience couldn’t see properly or

felt excluded from show. When I am approaching

a design, I start with the barest space and then

bring in elements that are going to support the

world of the play. I leave a clear stage to allow

a director or choreographer to create pictures

through movement. I work very closely with

directors for the design, in order to create the

right atmosphere. We live in the world where the

computers can generate images that are simply

beyond construction, and audiences are used to

that, so it’s best not to compete.

SFL: How much input do you get from the

director?

CO: A lot! My collaboration with Michael

(Grandage) stretches back over twenty

productions so we are almost to the point of

being non-communicative because I know how he

works.

SFL: How did you collaborate with Armani,

who supplied the modern day costumes?

CO: There is no way we could have done the

show without their contribution. To be honest,

we were breaking the costume budget with

the medieval costumes alone. This is a hugely

ambitious costume show for the Donmar

Warehouse. Without the help of Armani, I would

be pacing up and down Oxford Street, going into

Oxfam and buying up suits that sort of look smart!

Suddenly, we have the opportunity to get the real

thing. No matter what anyone thinks of these

clothes, they are the clothes that these people

would wear. They are upmarket, smart, beautiful

and true to the world of the play.

SFL: Did you have to brief the Armani

designers to give them the background of the

play?

CO: Certainly in terms of the characters. For

example, Robert (Demeger) is playing the doctor

so obviously he can’t wear shorts and sandals.

He’s got to look like he just arrived from Harley

Street. Di Nolli (Orlando Wells) is in mourning, so

there are obviously limitations there as well. But

within that context we can choose anything that

is in the Armani shop. Matilda (Francesca Annis)

is in slacks, a jacket and a scarf. It’s an extreme

contrast - this group from the 20th century

collides with the Medieval world. There are strong

contemporary colours and softer historical ones

and they jar against each other. When the group

arrives in their beautifully tailored, brightly coloured

clothes in this very medieval gothic environment,

they look fantastic and shocking and bizarre.

15section

5

Pirandello in relation to

other theatre practitioners

Pirandello and Stoppard

Tom Stoppard has said that any similarities to Pirandello in his own work should

not be considered as proof of direct literary infl uence, but as evidence of the

‘impossibility’ for any contemporary Western playwright ‘to write a play that is

totally unlike Beckett, Pirandello, Kafka…’3

It is one of Stoppard’s early works, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, that

has been identifi ed as the play which most clearly shares themes and situations

evident in Pirandello’s two best-known plays, Henry IV and Six Characters in

Search of an Author. All three plays use theatre as a metaphor: in Henry IV Henry

is both actor, director and playwright in the enactment of his life; in Six characters

in Search of an Author the characters interrupt a rehearsal of another play, looking

for an author to give life to their own; in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead,

the protagonists are caught in a script being written by someone else.

As Pirandello did in Six Characters in Search of an Author and Henry IV, Stoppard

gives an added dramatic life to characters who have already been written:

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two minor characters from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

Two characters who, like Henry, are imprisoned in a timeless void.

Pirandello and Stanislavski

Pirandello formed his own company of actors whom he taught using Stanislavski’s

techniques. Indeed, Stanislavski’s book, Building a Character, discusses the

process of creating a character as being an act of construction, which is not

dissimilar to Pirandello’s concept of costruisi.

Practical Exercise

Choose one character from Henry IV. Drawing on your knowledge of Stanislavski, how would you

approach the physical realisation of this character - in terms of expressions, movement and speech

- in performance?

16Pirandello and Shakespeare

Parallels can be drawn between Henry IV and Hamlet. Hamlet’s reference to

art holding a mirror up to nature seems synonymous with Pirandello’s teatro

dello specchio (theatre of the looking glass). Just as Hamlet uses the play, ‘The

Mousetrap’ to catch the conscience of Claudius, so Pirandello forces a crisis of

recognition to catch fi rst the consciences of some of his characters and then his

audience.

Pirandello and Pirandello

Identity and the dual nature of the human personality was an issue that concerned

Pirandello personally. Before marrying his wife, Antonietta, he wrote to her alerting

her to the two sides of his own personality:

‘There are almost two people within me. You already know one of them; not even

I know the other one very well…..The former is taciturn and continually lost in

thought; the latter speaks with ease, makes jokes and isn’t adverse to laughing and

making other laugh…I am perpetually divided between these two persons….Which

of the two will you love the most, my Antonietta?’4

Discussion Point

‘The Playwrights who follow Pirandello are frequently better artists, but none would have been

the same without him…In his insights into the disintegration of personality and the isolation of

man, he anticipates Samuel Beckett; in his unremitting war on language, theory, concepts, and the

collective mind, he anticipates Eugene Ionesco; in his approach to the confl ict of truth and illusion,

he anticipates Eugene O’Neill (and later, Harold Pinter and Edward Albee); in his experiments with

the theatre, he anticipates a host of experimental dramatists, including Thorton Wilder and Jack

Gelber; in his use of the interplay between actors and characters, he anticipates Jean Anouilh; in

his concept of man as a role-playing animal, he anticipates Jean Genet. The extent of this partial list

of infl uences marks Pirandello as the most seminal dramatist of our time…’

Robert Brustein, ‘The Theatre of Revolt’

These comments of Robert Brustein’s were published over thirty years ago, a few years before

the 1974 revival of Henry IV at Her Majesty’s Theatre. Which playwrights’ work that you have

seen and/or studied appears to build on Pirandello’s dramatic style?

17section

6

The Rehearsal Process

Approaching rehearsals for HENRY IV

Michael Grandage doesn’t present his overall concept for a production to his

cast at the start of the rehearsal process. He likes to get straight into exploratory

rehearsals where the individual actors can begin discovering the play and find

their characters. The production is given space to grow, rather than having a vision

imposed on it. On this occasion, the design concept was discussed as it plays

such an integral part in the production. The company also spent the first four days

of rehearsal with Tom Stoppard, working out some of the complexities of the

text –such as the chronology of Henry’s life - as well as collectively going through

some of the more basic details such as the geography of the house/palace. (The

counsellors drew up a map of the house, which was referred to during the early

part of the rehearsal process).

One issue that Michael did focus on in the early stages of rehearsal was locating

the world of the play and helping the actors discover the texture for this world;

finding an energy for the lines that were flying across the space – not out of hate

- but out of the Latin temperament of the play’s culture.

As in rehearsals for any play, there have been times when the director and the

actors have been presented with an obstacle as to how a particular line should

be said or what it means. In these instances, they have gone back to the literal

translation of Pirandello’s play (translated word for word from his original) for

guidance. If this strategy didn’t help them to find a creative solution, they would

invariably decide to ‘ask Tom’ next time he visited the rehearsal room. That is one

advantage of working on a version of a classic text created by a contemporary

writer: they can be with you in the rehearsal room to guide you on your journey.

‘The rehearsal process has involved discovering Stoppard’s and Pirandello’s

intentions and making them our own.’

Charlie Westenra, Assistant Director

Inside the rehearsal room

The following observations were made during a rehearsal of Act II that took place

three weeks into the five-week rehearsal period. The approaches taken by the

director and the actors during this rehearsal might help you in your own practical

exploration of the play, or in rehearsals for other texts that you might be working on.

18Working on entrances

Act II is set in ‘Another room in the

villa. Adjoining the throne room,

furnished in a plain antique style’.

Michael was keen for the actors to

show the curiosity of entering the

room – yet another room in the palace

- for the fi rst time.

Michael also worked on balancing

the needs of the actors with the

requirements of the scene. For

example, Robert Demeger, playing the

Doctor, felt he had a lot of energy to

dispel as he entered the scene - which

had built up during his meeting with

Henry IV from where he’d just come

– and felt he needed to enter before

Belcredi and Matilda. However, the

scene is opened by Belcredi, who

needs to be in a strong position on

stage in order to do this.

Photograph by Ivan Kyncl

Ÿ David Yelland as Belcradi in Tom

Stoppard’s version of Pirandello’s

HENRY IV, Donmar 2004

Observation point

When you go to see the production, observe

the entrances and positioning of the

characters at the start of Act II. Can you

determine the creative decisions that were

fi nally made about how to open this scene

and what this communicates to the audience?

Identifying required levels of energy

MATILDA: I’m telling you he recognised me. When he

looked into my eyes, he knew me.

Michael was captivated by the energy that he felt between

Belcredi and Matilda as Belcredi blocks Matilda’s attempts

to convince him that Henry recognised her. He liked the

‘fi re’ that he saw between the two of them; this was the

fi rst time that the actors had created this moment during

rehearsals. By identifying this electrifying moment, created

for the fi rst time during this rehearsal, the director is

supporting his actors and enabling them to locate the same

energy in subsequent rehearsals and performances.

19Helping the audience to receive plot information

David Yelland, the actor playing Belcredi, noted that the altercations between

himself and Matidla are always about who has the last word, rather than a dispute

about the subject matter. As Michael pointed out, dramatically, we need both so

that the audience ‘gets the point’.

Clarifying characters’ intentions for saying lines.

Rehearsals offer the opportunity for the director and/or actors to realise the

meaning of lines and moments of action that the text doesn’t make clear for them.

During this rehearsal, Francessa Annis- playing Matilda - David and Michael, all

seemed unclear as to why the stage directions say there is an ‘awkward pause’

after Matilda’s line, ‘Or perhaps you have another explanation why he took an

instant dislike to you?, referring to Henry’s attitude towards Belcredi at the

meeting from which they have just come. Why is there a pause? Why doesn’t

Belcridi come back with a witty retort, as is characteristic of his nature? And what

is the other explanation for Henry having taken a dislike to Belcredi? Is it because

Henry realised that Belcredi and Matlida were lovers? Is the line said by Matilda

simply a way to try and get Belcredi to shut up? This was one of the instances

where the literal translation was referred to. Pirandello’s stage directions read:

From the tone of the question, the implied answer must be clear: ‘Because he

understood that you’re my lover’. BELCREDI understands this perfectly, and at

once becomes lost in a vain smile’. Nobody felt that this was how the line should

be played. It was decided to consult Tom Stoppard - their living writer- when he

came into rehearsal the following day.

Observation point

When you see the production, try and identify the fi nal decisions made by the company regarding

this sequence.

Invisible links and the ‘mental highlighting pen’.

When directing, Michael encourages the actors to detect the ‘invisible links’ in the

text: those key moments that thread the through line of action together. One such

moment occurs during the following exchange between the Doctor and Belcredi,

when the Doctor refers to a key element of the action which will occur later in

the scene: Frida’s appearance in the costume worn by her mother, Matilda, in the

portrait; the ruse whereby Henry is to be ‘shocked’ out of his madness in Act III.

DOCTOR: Let’s not rush things. We have to wait till it’s dark and it won’t take

a minute to set up. If we can give him a shock and snap the thread

that binds him from his delusion, give him back what he longs for

– he said it himself; you can’t stay twenty-six for ever! – and free

him from his prison – that’s the way he sees it –

BELCREDI: - he’ll be cured! Saved by the alienation technique!

20DOCTOR: His clock stopped, and we’re checking our watches for the

critical moment when…with a quick shake, we might get his

clock ticking again, after all this time.

Robert noted that he would need to get his ‘mental highlighting pen’ out for

this sequence, accentuating its importance to the audience in relation to the

action that follows.

Realising visual signifi ers in performance

Michael encouraged the actors to maximise the visual impact of Frida’s

entrance dressed as the young Marchese of Tuscany: -

MATILDA: She’s me! My god, can you see? Stop there, Frida! She’s my

portrait come to life!

The image of Frida in her costume remains the focus of the following scene,

encapsulating in 3D Belcredi’s argument that ‘the younger generation still

have to go through what we went through…..get older, make more or less the

same mistakes.’

BELCREDI: Look at her! (he points at Frida) – centuries ahead of us, the

Marchese Matilda of Tuscany.

Observation point

As you watch this scene in production, identify how the stage picture created by the actors

highlights the visual importance of this scene.

21Practical Work on the Text

In a group, read through the following extract from the opening of Tom Stoppard’s version of HENRY IV.

The scene introduces us to Henry’s counsellors, Landolf, Harold and Ordulf. They are introducing a new

counsellor, Bertold, to life at Henry’s palace.

Extract 1

ACT ONE

The Throne Room. There are two full-length,

life size portraits, of a young man and a young

woman dressed as Henry IV and Matilda,

Countess of Tuscany. Harold, Landolf, Ordulf

and Bertold - wearing the costumes of

eleventh-century German knights - enter.

LANDOLF HAROLD Next - the throne room!

The throne room of the Emperor’s

Palace at Goslar!

ORDULF Or could be Hartzburg ...

HAROLD ... or Worms, depending.

LANDOLF Depending on where we are in the

story - he keeps us on the hop.

ORDULF Saxony ...

HAROLD Lombardy ...

LANDOLF The Rhine...

ORDULF Keep your voice down

LANDOLF He’s asleep

BERTOLD Hang about. I’m confused. I

thought we were doing Henry IV.

LANDOLF So?

BERTOLD Well, this place, these get-ups

- it’s not him

ORDULF Who?

BERTOLD The King of France, Henry IV.

LANDOLF Whoops.

ORDULF He thought it was the French one.

LANDOLF Wrong country, mate, wrong

century, wrong Henry.

HAROLD It’s the German Henry IV, Salian

Dynasty.

ORDULF The Holy Roman Emperor.

LANDOLF The Canossa one - walked to

Canossa to get absolution from the

Pope. Church v State, that’s the

game round here, day in, day out.

ORDULF Emperor at home to Pope -

HAROLD Pope away to Anti-Pope -

LANDOLF King away to Anti-King -

ORDULF Like war with Saxony -

HAROLD Plus with revolting barons

LANDOLF His own kids ...

BERTOLD Now I know why I’ve been feeling

wrong in these clothes, these are

not your French 1580’s.

HAROLD Forget the 1580’s.

ORDULF Think the ten-hundreds.

LANDOLF Work it out, if Canossa was

January 1071 ...

BERTOLD I’m fucked.

ORDULF Royally.

BERTOLD LANDOLF I’ve been reading up the wrong ...

Sad. We’re four hundred years

ahead of you, you’re not even a

twinkle in our eye.

BERTOLD (angered) You got any idea how

much stuff I read about Henry IV of

France in the last two weeks?

HAROLD Didn’t you know Tony was our

Adalbert, Bishop of Bremen?

BERTOLD What Adalbert? - no one told me

anything!

LANDOLF Well, when Tony died, at first the

young Count

BERTOLD HAROLD LANDOLF The Count Di Nolli? He’s the one ...

He must have thought you knew.

... first he thought the three of us

would do. Then Himself started

moaning - “They’ve driven out

Adalbert!” - he didn’t realise

“Adalbert” had died on us, he

thought the Bishops of Cologne

and Mainz had booted him out,

Tony I mean, all clear so far?

BERTOLD Wait. Bishop Tony of what?

ORDULF You’re fucked.

HAROLD The bishops are not the problem,

the problem is we don’t know who

you are.

BERTOLD So what am I playing?

ORDULF Urn, Bertold.

BERTOLD Bertold who? Why Bertold?

LANDOLF Himself kept yelling, “They’ve

driven out Adalbert, so get me

Bertold! I want Bertold!”

HAROLD We eyeballed each other - who

dat?

LANDOLF Never heard of him.

ORDULF And here you are.

LANDOLF You’ll be great.

BERTOLD Forget it, which way’s out?

HAROLD No, no, relax.

LANDOLF This’ll cheer you up - we don’t

know who we are either. He’s

Harold, he’s Ordulf, I’m Landolf,

that’s what he calls us so that’s

who we are, you get used to it. But

who are we really? ... Just names

of the period. Same with you, I

suppose, Bertold. Tony was the

only one with a proper character,

the Bishop of Bremen. He was a

good Bishop, too, God rest him.

HAROLD Always reading himself up.

LANDOLF And he bossed Himself about,

not himself, Himself, his Majesty,

he was like his teacher. With us,

we’re his Privy Counsellors but

we’re only here to fill space. It’s

in the books - the barons had it in

for Henry for surrounding himself

with young toffs not quite out of

the top drawer, so that’s us. Royal

hangers-on, do anything for him,

like a drink , a few laughs ...

BERTOLD Laughs?

HAROLD Just do what we do.

ORDULF It’s not as easy as it looks.

LANDOLF Bit of a waste really. We’ve got the

scenery, we’ve got the costumes,

we could put on proper shows,

history’s always popular, and

there’s enough stuff in Henry IV

for several tragedies. But us four

- we’re stranded, nobody gives

us our moves, nothing to act, it’s

that old form-without-content. All

we can do is ... this. We’re worse

off than the real ones. They were

given sod all to play, true, but they

didn’t know that, so they just did

what they did because that’s what

they did. Life. Which means, look

after number one. They sold titles

and stuff. And here we are, great

outfits, handsome surroundings,

shame about the puppets.

HAROLD No, fair do’s, you have to be ready

to come out with the right answer

or you’re in trouble.

LANDOLF Yeh, that’s true.

BERTOLD Well, that’s it, innit? How’m I

supposed to give him the right

answer when I’ve been learning

the wrong Henry?

HAROLD You’ll have to put that right right

off.

ORDULF We’ll all pitch in.

HAROLD There’s lots of stuff on him, a quick

skim will do you for now.

22Discussion Points

What strategies does Stoppard use in his writing to introduce the audience to the central ideas of the play?

How would you defi ne the style and genre of the extract? Justify your response with examples from the dialogue and action

Now read through the second extract, in which Matilda, Belcredi and the Doctor are costumed by the counsellors in

preparation for their meeting with Henry.

Extract 2

LANDOLF Yes sir - and says he brings the

dead to life, practises all the

diabolical arts - he’s terrifi ed of

him.

DOCTOR Paranoia, quite normal.

HAROLD He’d lose control.

Dl NOLLI (to Belcredi) We can wait outside

- it’s only the Doctor who has to

see him.

DOCTOR Dl NOLLI DOCTOR MATILDA What, you mean on my own?

They’ll be with you!

Ah, no, I thought the Countess ...

1 do - I am - I’m staying - of course

I’m staying, I want to see him

again!

FRIDA What for, Mummy? - please come

...

MATILDA (imperiously) Stop it - this is what

I came for. (to Landolf) I’ll be ... the

mother-in-law, Adelaide.

LANDOLF Right. Bertha’s mother, fi ne, you

won’t need any more than a cloak

and a coronet ... (to Harold) Get on

with it, Harry.

HAROLD What about the Doctor?

DOCTOR Yes ... we thought, the Bishop ...

Bishop Hugo of Cluny.

HAROLD Abbot of Cluny, sir - right ...

LANDOLF He’s been here lots of times.

DOCTOR Lots of... ?

LANDOLF No problem, it’s a simple costume.

DOCTOR But...

LANDOLF He won’t remember you, he

doesn’t take in faces, only the

clothes.

MATILDA That should help.

DI NOLLI We’ll go, Frida - come on, Tito.

BELCREDJ If she’s staying, I’m staying.

MATILDA I don’t need you here.

BELCREDI I didn’t say you need me - I’d

like to see him again, too, any

objections?

LANDOLF If might look better if there were

three of you.

HAROLD BELCREDI So, what’s he ... ?

Oh, just fi nd something simple for

me

LANDOLF (to Harold) A Clunatic.

BELCREDI A CIunatic? What’s that?

LANDOLF The Abbot of Cluny’s retinue - in a

Benedictine habit, (to Harold) Go,

go! (to Bertold) You, too - and keep

out of sight for the rest of the day.

No - wait - (to Bertold) bring in the

costumes he gives you. (to Harold)

And then go and announce they’re

coming - Duchess Adelaide and

Monsignor Hugo of Cluny, got it?

(Harold and Bertold exit.)

Dl NOLLI We’ll make ourselves scarce.

(Di Noll! and Frida exit.)

DOCTOR (to Landolf) He likes me, doesn’t

he? - I mean, Hugo of Cluny?

LANDOLF Yes, don’t worry, Monsignor has

always been received with the

greatest respect here. You don’t

worry yourself either, my lady. He

never forgets that you both spoke

up for him when he’d been waiting

two days in the snow, half frozen

outside Canossa and the Pope let

him in fi nally ...

BELCREDI And what about me?

LANDOLF You just keep back and act

respectful.

MATILDA BELCREDI MATILDA I wish you’d wait outside.

Aren’t you getting a bit... ?

Whatever I’m getting, I’m getting.

Leave me alone.

(Bertold returns with the

garments.)

LANDOLF Ah - wardrobe! The cloak for the

Marchese.

MATILDA LANDOLF Wait, I’ll take off my hat.

(to Bertold) Lose the hat. (to the

Matilda) May I?

MATILDA LANDOLF Aren’t there any mirrors here?

Outside. If your ladyship would

rather see to herself... ?.

MATILDA That would be better, let me have

it, I’ll be back in a minute.

(Matilda takes her hat and goes

out with Bertold who is carrying

her cloak and coronet. Meanwhile

the Doctor and Belcredi put on the

Benedictine robes as best they

can.)

BELCREDI I wasn’t frankly expecting to join

the Benedictines. It’s a pretty

expensive form of insanity, this!

DOCTOR BELCREDI None of them come cheap.

Yes but when there’s a fortune at

one’s disposal ...

LANDOLF You’re right, sir - we have an

entire costume department,

everything perfectly made from

period patterns. It’s my personal

responsibility to commission

trained costumiers. We spend a

mint.

(Matilda re-enters wearing cloak

and coronet.)

BELCREDI Ah! - beautiful! You look like a

queen.

MATILDA You look like an ostrich in holy

orders. Take it off.

BELCREDI DOCTOR MATILDA Have you seen the Doctor?

I know, it’s too bad ... never mind ...

No, the Doctor’s fi ne ... but you,

you are ridiculous!

DOCTOR (to Landolf) Does he receive people

often?

LANDOLF It depends. Sometimes he

demands to see this or that

character, and then we have to fi nd

somebody who’s willing ... Women,

too.

MATILDA BELCREDI Oh? - women as well?

You don’t say. In costume?

(pointing at Matilda) Like that?

LANDOLF Well, you know, women who’ll do

it.

BELCREDI Ah. (to Matilda) Watch yourself

- this could be tricky.

(Harold enters, gesturing for

silence.)

HAROLD His Majesty the Emperor!

(Ordulf and Harold take their

positions. Ordulf holds the imperial

crown, Harold the sceptre with the

eagle and the orb with the cross.

Henry IV enters)

23Discussion Points

How many of Pirandello’s key concepts listed in Section Three can you identify in this extract?

How important are the elements of design, ie set and costumes, to this extract?

Practical Exercise

Divide into smaller groups and choose either extract one or extract two to work on. Explore the

scene practically, using the following six headings as a guide for your approach to the work:

n Working on entrances and exits

n Identifying the different levels of energy required throughout the scene

n Helping the audience to receive plot information

n Clarifying characters’ intentions for saying lines.

n Identifying the invisible links that thread together the through line of action

n Maximising the visual impact of the piece through the staging of characters

Present your ‘work in progress’ to the rest of the group. Can they identify the creative decisions

you have made under each of the six headings from seeing your performance?

24section

7

Follow-up material

Assessing the production

You may find the following questions useful as a springboard for discussion after

seeing the production.

‘Once the characters have left the stage, the mirror reflects back to the audience

images of themselves, as they confront their relationship with what they have just

seen, as well as the reality of their own lives’

‘Dreams of Passion: The Theatre of Luigi Pirandello by Roger Oliver, page 9.

• In your opinion, in what way did the production ‘reflect back’ images of the

contemporary world in which we live?

• Which aspects of the production did you enjoy the most?

• Identify how the acting skills of two of the performers enhanced your

appreciation of the production?

• Assess the contribution that Christopher Oram’s set and costume designs made

to the production.

Ideas for further practical work

If you have enjoyed working on Henry IV, you may want to investigate some of the

following plays that explore similar concepts:

Six Characters in Search of an Author Luigi Pirandello

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Tom Stoppard

Hamlet William Shakespeare

The Maids Jean Genet

Queen Christina Pam Gems

25section

26

8

Brief biographies of non-fictional

characters referred to in the script

Emperor Henry IV: Bertha of Susa: Matilda of Tuscany: Abbot Hugo of Cluny: Peter Damien: Henry came to the throne as a child and his mother, Agnes,

acted as regent. She came under suspicion of adultery with

the Bishop of Augsburg and had to be removed. To this

piece of factual history, Pirandello adds the fiction that the

accusation of adultery was brought by Peter Damien (see

below).

Pirandello is interested in what happened to Henry when he

was twenty-six, namely his penance to Pope Gregory VII.

Pope Gregory, by then Henry’s arch enemy, brought him

to his knees, literally, as he knelt in the snow at Canossa

hoping the Pope would give him an audience. His wife,

Bertha, knelt with him and Bertha’s mother, Adelaide,

went with the Abbot of Cluny to plead with the Pope and

his ally, Countess Matilda of Tuscany.

Wife of Henry IV. Bertha’s Mother, Adelaide Margravine of

Turin, is the character Matilda chooses to present herself

as when received by Henry.

Matilda inherited her title after her father’s murder in 1052,

and the subsequent death of her older brother and sister.

It was at Matilda’s ancestral castle of Canossa that Henry

was forced to humble himself before Pope Gregory VII in

1077. It is Matilda of Tuscany whom the Marchesse Matilda

dressed up as during the fateful pageant where Henry was

knocked from his horse, and who is represented in the

portrait that hangs in the throne room.

Hugo was Abbot from 1049 to 1109 and was godson to

Henry IV. He was advisor to nine different Popes; he and

his Cluniac monk, Gregory (later Pope Gregory VII) were

instrumental in promoting the powerful revival of spiritual

life throughout western Europe which characterises the

eleventh century. The Doctor presents himself as Abbot

Hugo of Cluny at his meeting with Henry.

Had a long association with Henry IV, including lecturing the

young king on his obligations towards the Roman Church

and persuading him not to divorce Bertha in later life.section

9

Bibliography and suggestions for

further study

‘Henry IV’, Pirandello, in a new version by Tom Stoppard (Faber), 2004

‘Henry IV’, Pirandello, translated by Julian Mitchell (Methuen), 1979

‘Luigi Pirandello’, Susan Bassnett, Macmillan, (1983)

‘Bloom’s Major Dramatists: Luigi Pirandello’, Edited by Harold Bloom, Chelsea

House Publishers (2003).

‘The Theatre of Revolt’, Robert Brustein, Methuen (1970).

‘Dreams of Passion: The Theatre of Luigi Pirandello’, Roger Oliver, New York

University Press (1979).

‘Pirandello’s Theatre: the recovery of the modern stage for dramatic art, Anne

Paolucci, (2002)

‘The Cambridge Companion to Tom Stoppard’, Edited by Katherine E. Kelly,

Cambridge University Press, (2001).

‘Building a Character’, Stanislavski, (Methuen 1991).

Credits

Study Guide written by Sophie Watkiss and edited by Leona Felton

Photographs by Ivan Kyncl

With thanks to Malcolm Jones, Theatre Museum, Covent Garden

Endnotes

1 Page 125, Dreams of Passion: The Theatre of Luigi Pirandello, Roger Oliver, New

York University Press (1979).

2 ‘The Theatre of Revolt’, Robert Brustein, Methuen (1970).

3 Quoted in Emmanuela Tandello on Pirandello’s Influence on Stoppard, ‘Bloom’s

Major Dramatists: Luigi Pirandello’, Edited by Harold Bloom, Chelsea House

Publishers (2003).

4 Quoted in ‘Dreams of Passion: The Theatre of Luigi Pirandello’, Roger Oliver, New

York University Press (1979).

27About the Donmar Warehouse –

a special insight into the theatre

In just a decade, the Donmar has become

one of London’s leading producing theatres

and has earned an international measure of

acclaim that far exceeds the size of our 250-

seat theatre.

Quality writing, coupled with inspired

directorial vision, has always been the

cornerstone of the Donmar’s repertoire

and the foundation on which we have

built our award-winning programme. This,

along with the Donmar’s commitment to

and reputation for artistic excellence, has

established the theatre as a magnet for

renowned artists from around the globe.

As we embark on our second decade under

the leadership of Artistic Director Michael

Grandage, we look ahead to an era in which

European classics will sit alongside our

exciting and eclectic mix of high definition

revivals, new plays and musicals. As

ever, the high artistic standards, which

distinguished our first ten years, will be our

benchmark for the seasons to come.

For more information about the

Donmar’s Education Activities,

please contact:

Development Department,

Donmar Warehouse,

41 Earlham Street,

London WC2H 9LX.

T: 020 7845 5815,

F: 020 7240 4878,

E: friends@donmarwarehouse.com.

Photograph by Ivan Kyncl

Francesca Annis as Matilda in Tom

Stoppard’s version of Pirandello’s

HENRY IV, Donmar 2004