WSC Avant Bard Takes a Very Different Look at Prince Hal

Director Tom Mallan, whose past projects at WSC include Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Winter's Tale and Entertaining Mr. Sloane (for which Christopher Henley received one of his Helen Hayes Award nominations), has adapted parts 1 and 2 of William Shakespeare's Henry IV, infused with parts of Richard II and Henry V and language extracted from elsewhere in the canon to create a brand new musical-within-a-play, The Mistorical Hystery of Henry (I)V. Mallan places Hal, and nearly the entire action of the play, in the Boar's Head Tavern, a steampunk Edwardian era Eastcheap brothel/music hall, where the Harlotry Players play out the news of the day in bawdy acts and musical numbers that parody both the rulers of the land and their powerful enemies. It is here in this subversive musical hall, where prostitutes can escape their degrading existence by getting onstage and mocking the powers-that-be, that Hal has found home. But can the heir apparent really stay true to a family of outspoken outcasts forever? And what happens to these radical ne'er-do-wells when Hal stops "slumming" and begins to lead?

WSC Avant Bard performs in the Black Box Theatre in Artisphere (1101 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA) near the Rosslyn Metro and the DC Circulator (Rosslyn-Georgetown-Dupont Circle route).

Tickets are available by calling (888) 841-2787 or going online at tickets.artisphere.com.