Zoë Goslin, Chasen Schneider, Will McKay and Ariana Karp work their way through Act II of King Henry IV, Part I:

• We puzzle through some of the more archaic working-class language of the carriers in Act II, Scene I
• The rapid shift in both tone and setting from the nobility in the throne room talking politics to the carriers (read: truck drivers) complaining about the flea-ridden inn and their underfed livestock
• The insight into how the underworld of the thieves interacts with the servant class 
• The Gadshill robbery, masculine pranksters and the continuing development of the relationship between Hal and Falstaff
• Orson Wells on Falstaff - “Innocence is what Falstaff is, he is a refugee from a sweeter England” and the echoes of Chaucer 
• Falstaff as both father and child
• The distinction of Falstaff being the Fool whom we laugh with and not the Clown, whom we laugh at
• How aware is Falstaff that Hal will ultimately reject him?
• Shakespeare’s use of simpler mono-syllabic (Anglo-Saxon) based words in highly charged emotional moments in his plays
• What should it ultimately cost Hal at the end of King Henry IV part II to reject the tavern world and the people who inhabit it? 
• The base metal AND the glittering reformation are both parts of Hal
• Lady Percy and Hotspur’s relationship, and the importance of Hotspur making the decision for Lady Percy to follow him in the scene
• The audience’s investment in Hotspur’s character deepens as we witness the love that Lady Percy shows to him.

Antony Sher as Falstaff