Henry IV: The Tread On Kings Tour

Two plays, four cities, eight days, zero directors.

Elsewhere is taking our most ambitious script on our most ambitious tour. In typical Elsewhere fashion, this show will be a 90min cut for a cast of seven actors. But instead of a single play, this show is conflation of two plays: Henry IV Part 1 and Part 2. We’ll tell the whole story of both 15th-century rebellions against King Henry IV and the coming of age of his oldest son, Prince Hal, who must leave his life of partying and petty crime to become the heroic King Henry V.

Part buddy comedy, part epic dynastic struggle, some believe the Henry IV plays represent the best of Shakespeare’s writing.

As we make our way up the east coast, we’ll incorporate different local actors into the cast, including a different lead actor playing Hal every night. All told, 21 actors will be in the four shows.

We’re raffling off some amazing prizes to fund our biggest and most ambitious project yet. We have prizes in North Adams MA, Richmond VA, and Columbia SC. If you’d like to enter our raffle, Venmo @Elsewhere-Shakespeare ($10 for one entry or $25 for three) and specify whether you’d like to be entered into the MA, VA, or SC drawing.

North Adams, MA Prizes	Richmond, VA Prizes	Columbia, SC Prizes
Membership to MassMoCA Art by Henry Kunkel A copy of The Play’s The Thing, signed by Mac	Shakespeare tattoo by Nick Barnett Art by Matt Lively Art by Sophie Sallade A copy of The Play’s The Thing signed by Mac	Art by Ann Anrrich West Columbia gift basket A copy of The Play’s The Thing, signed by Mac

You don’t need to ask our permission or credit us to use anything on this page.

All our cuts run 90 minutes and can be staged with a cast of seven to nine actors.

Information about individual scripts — including dramaturgical notes about how we cut our scripts and what we’ve removed from each play, as well as doubling charts, props, and fights — can be found on the first two pages of each cut.

If you have additional questions about these cuts, email us.