Vulgar Company

Synopsis: Episode 8 of a 26-part serialisation of the Elizabethan history play (encompassing the reign of Edward II to Henry VI), adapted for radio by Martin Jenkins.
This episode, based on Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, stars Martin Jarvis, Robert Hardy and Anthony Quayle. With Richard Burton as narrator. The music for the series is composed by Christopher Whelen and played by members of the English Chamber Orchestra.
Series: Vivat Rex
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Radio
Recording date: 18 Jan 1977
Transmission details: 3 Apr 1977 at 21:03 (Channel: BBC Radio 4)
Duration: 55 mins

History: VIVAT REX was presented by BBC Radio 4 to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.
Each episode of the broadcast was repeated on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesdays at 15:05.
Stills: A large portrait of Burton in front of the microphone can be found in Radio Times, 12-18 February 1977, pp. 61-62.
Textual information: To enable listeners to follow the episodes more easily, a booklet accompanying the series was published, written by Robert Cushman.
Reviews: On Burton’s performance see David Wade, ‘Voices’, Radio Times, 19 February 1977, p. 10.
On a review of the first 6 episodes and Martin Jenkins’s view of the production see Wilfred De’ Ath’s ‘Kings complex’ in Radio Times, 26 March-1 April 1977, p. 66.

Robert Hardy	King Henry IV
Martin Jarvis	Prince Henry (Hal)
Anthony Quayle	Sir John Falstaff
Robert Powell	Henry Percy (Hotspur)
June Whitfield	Mistress Quickly
Douglas Blackwell	Sir Walter Blunt
James Thomason	Sheriff
Michael N. Harbour	Sir Richard Vernon
Nigel Anthony	Poins
Peter Howell (2)	Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester
Robert Trotter	Archibald, Earl of Douglas
Rod Beacham	Peto
Timothy Bateson	Bardolph
Walter Hall	Messenger
Walter Hall	Traveller

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