#1) The play fictionalizes the
exuberance and wanton ways of "The Playboy King". With fifteen plus
(alleged) children to his name, you should see this play if only to count the
amount of women Edward kisses.
#2) The play’s subtitle reads like
a cheap novella. See the play to decide for yourself if the Bastard
Falconbridge deserves such small type.
The First And
Second Partes of King Edward
The Fourth
containing
His mery pastime with the
Tanner of Tamworth
as also his loue to faire
Mistrisse Shoare,
her great promotion, fall
and miserie,
and lastly the lamentable
death
of both her and her hus-
band.
Likewise the besieging of
London, by the Bastard
Falconbridge, and the
valiant defence of
the same by the Lord Maior
and
the Cittizens.
#3) Thomas Heywood penned at least
another 219 plays. If you like this one, you'll have a whole new canon of plays
to explore.
#4) A crying Executioner? How often
are we treated to sights like that in the theatre? Come to experience one of
the plays most moving moments as a Headsman grows a conscience.
#5) It has a sequel which has
already been written. Unlike "Game of Thrones" you don't have to wait
five years to find out what happens next.
#6) Because the sentence "I's
quite your gudeness with a bonny nag, sall swum away so deftly as the
wind" makes more sense when spoken by an actor than when you have to read
it on your own.
#7) Historically, London was indeed
besieged by rebels and yet managed to repel them. You need to watch this play
to fully grasp the finer points of their defense strategy.
#8) Come and see what Shakespeare's
Richard III really means when he says that Edward IV "capers nimbly in a
lady's chamber to the lascivious pleasing of a lute".
#9) It is a play which expertly
skirts the line between comedy and tragedy.
#10) If none of the above reasons
entice, think on this- you might never see it produced anywhere again because
it's that obscure.
This might be your very last chance
to see Edward IV, Part I.
Ever.
Sybille Bruun
Executive Director
The Shakespeare Forum
