Hal and Others: ‘I Know You All’

Abstract

The interpretation of the play which has been most committed to the idea of a ‘cold-blooded’ Hal was the RSC 1964 version. Hal was played by Ian Holm, a physically ideal choice. Small, tidy, economical in his acting, everything about him contrasted with Hugh Griffith’s Falstaff. Our first view of the two men was of them emerging from sleep from under the straw in a wagon. They went across to a pump, to douse each other with water. Falstaff was in a nightshirt the size of a bell-tent. Hal wore a neat dark doublet and hose. His physical appearance suggested Hamlet rather than a prodigal son.