1. This coming Sunday, the Westminster Basement Study Group will discuss the brilliantly performed Episode 3 of the first season of The Hollow Crown, a condensed version of Shakespeare's Henry IV, part 2.
Shakespeare manages a number of plot lines and explores several different aspects of the kingdom now that Henry IV is several years into his reign. For one, he focuses on disease. The tavern and brothel world of the play is shot through with illness and venereal disease and, in the court, King Henry's health is failing. The illness and disease works metaphorically as a way of exploring the general political illness of King Henry's kingdom, the infection of rebellion, and the decline of chivalry and honor.
Possibly the most important plot line explores Prince Hal's ascendancy to the throne and the father/son (and king/prince) relationship between Hal and King Henry. Prince Hal has also developed a figurative father/son relationship with Falstaff and this episode unfolds what Hal must do about Falstaff once he's coronated as king.
Lastly, the play explores the many dimensions of the crown (the hollow crown) itself. The play features one of Shakespeare's most famous lines, "Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown" and King Henry and Hal both ponder the great weight of power. For King Henry, the crown is akin to a cancer and Prince Hal ruminates upon what he's seen happen to his father as he nears the time he will assume the kingship.
2. To help us in our discussion of the play on Sunday, I posted some questions on our group's website. Since Patrick and Meagan will be visiting for a few days, I wanted to get this material up so I won't be trying to squeeze in this posting during their visit.
3. As is often the case, watching Shakespeare performed whet my appetite for more superb drama.
Because I'm not a binge watcher of programs, any number of shows are out there that I've never finished watching all the seasons and episodes.
One of those programs is Foyle's War.
I just checked on this blog, and I watched the first episode of Season 1 of Foyle's War over six years ago in June of 2015.
Tonight, I watched the Episode 4 of Season 4 -- ha! I guess you'd call that whatever the opposite of binge watching is -- it's taken me over six years to watch four seasons of Foyle's War.
I like this slow approach. I like knowing I haven't watched everything and that, for the time being, there are always more episodes to turn to.
This episode's storyline had several threads, all skillfully developed.
Christopher Foyle's goddaughter, whom he hadn't seen in ten years, shows up at his front door with a mute child of about eight years old. Foyle and Milner are trying to break a gambling ring in the area. Up and down the coast, different installations in support of the war have been sabotaged. A murder occurs in a top secret laboratory.
Foyle has his hands full and, to make matters more complicated, a commissioner of the police force is breathing down his neck.
I enhanced my viewing pleasure by mixing myself two hot buttered rums, very simple ones. I mixed rum, butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon together and the drinks were perfectly warming, a little bit sweet, and paired perfectly with Christopher Foyle's efforts to maintain law and order in Hastings, Sussex, England as WWII complicates everything.
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