None of these flaws really matter, though, because at the center of the production is Diana Coates, an actor so strong and so perfectly cast as Henry that she makes up for the production’s missteps. From the moment she enters the play, she dominates, standing with regal bearing, stalking the stage like a true warrior-king, confident of her strength, always poised for action. And when she speaks, she reveals in every word and pause the full power and poetry in Shakespeare’s lines. This is the second time Coates has played Henry; she was the lead in a version of the play performed by Babes with Blades in 2017 (also directed by Rice), and I hope it is not her last. But it is my greater hope that some wise director will cast her in another Shakespeare play, and another, and another. She’d be a great Hamlet. She would kill as Macbeth. And Lear. Oh, I would pay good money to see her do Lear. v
Through 8/18: Wed-Sun 8:15 PM, First Folio Theatre, Mayslake Peabody Estate, 1717 31st St., Oak Brook, 630-986-8067, firstfolio.org, $34-$44, $29-$39 students and seniors, $10 kids 14 and under.
