Falstaff’s ‘Play Extempore’: Illegal Inn Performances and Local Politics in 1 Henry IV

Abstract

ABSTRACT 1 Henry IV is often praised for how it juxtaposes major geo-political events with the more mundane depictions of city life. But the local London scenes generally aren’t thought of as events with their own politics and histories. This essay seeks to trace that local history and show how the play engaged in those local politics. It is specifically interested in how the tavern scene at 2.4. is connected to London’s regulations on inn performances in the 1590s. The paper makes two interrelated claims about this scene. The first is historical. The ‘play extemporary’ at 2.4 should be understood as an illegal or, at the very least, an illicit inn performance that is interrupted by the local authorities and thus can be read against the background of increasing restrictions on inn performances. Next, I argue that the play was probably played at inns, including Cross Keys, and so Falstaff’s performance should be understood on a meta-level since the audience would have recognised themselves as tavern-goers watching an illicit performance. Together, these readings help to explain some of the puzzling interpretive cruxes of the text and demonstrate how local political events intruded on Shakespeare’s play about national, dynastic history.