Une production du Royal National Theatre

Act I, Scene ii: Hal and Falstaff
"Tis no sin for a man to labour in his vocation."
Mixing the modern and the medieval

The final scene to be looked at on this particular morning was Act I, Scene ii. This is the first time the audience encounter Hal and Falstaff, so it was vitally important to get the dynamics right in order to get the pay-offs in the ensuing interactions. The atmosphere created right at the start of the scene was to echo the streets in London's Hoxton area at 4am with the two 'rogues' singing some kind of Shakespearean drinking song.
Hytner wanted to try setting the scene in an all-night café, where the two men turn up for eggs, bacon and coffee as they sit at small tables right in front of the stage. In other words, the audience would see in very realistic, almost televisual close-up, a friendship put under the microscope.
"This might all change," eased Hytner, "but let's try it for now."
And it certainly worked terrifically, even though the actors were obviously still clutching scripts at this early stage of rehearsals and grasping for physical positions and psychological intentions. After the first attempt, Hytner suggested that the tone of the dialogue should be a little less fiercy: Falstaff and Hal are winding each other up because they enjoy each other’s company so much, not because they want to provoke each other aggressively.

Gambon: Like I enjoy winding [the actor] Tom Hollander up - it’s terrific fun. It’s meaningless codswallop and it’s really for the devilment of it, the cheek of it - just to see how far I can go.

Hytner: Yeah, it’s like you, Matthew, going up to Michael in the canteen and saying, 'Why on earth are you learning your lines ?'

Gambon: 'You whipper-snapper!'

Macfadyen: 'What? You mean you’re learning all of them??'

Hytner: That’s absolutely the tone. And we must be sure that when the coffee arrives at the table, Michael, you've got a bottle in your pocket to add some liquor to the mug-because we mustn't make it look as though the first thing Falstaff drinks in the morning is coffee.

Gambon: He's always got a bottle. His bottle is his metaphorical pistol. [As indeed, we see in Act V, Scene 3 on the battlefield.]

Hytner: Yes, and the dialogue doesn’t have to be addressed out front: it can be quite easy, realistic. Perhaps, you can get up and fetch some salt or something. The point of the scene is to show how convivial they are each other and they have the easy wind-up nature of a couple of actors. It’s like, 'I saw Peter Hall the other day and he said you were rubbish.'

Macfadyen: Yeah - 'Honestly, I don't agree with what Nicholas de Jongh said about you!'

Gambon: And there’s the excitement of saying it and you don’t really mean it.

Hytner: Yes, it’s the twinckle in the eye.

At which point, Macfadyen and Gambon struck up their own version of the banter between Hal and Falstaff - they absolutely understood the tenor of the scene and how to endow it with a realistic relish and a 21st-century ease.