Three Plays: Six Characters In Search Of An Author, Henry IV, The Mountain Giants (Oxford World's Classics) (2015) - Plot & Excerpts
But, amid all the antiques, two life-size modern portraits in oils stand out on the back wall, placed just above floor level on a projecting ledge of carved wood that runs the whole length of the wall and is broad enough to sit on like a bench. They are placed on either side of a throne that interrupts the ledge with its imperial seat and low canopy. The two portraits show a gentleman and a lady, both young and dressed in carnival costumes, the former as ‘Henry IV’ and the latter as ‘Countess Matilda of Tuscany’. Exits to right and left. As the curtain rises, the TWO VALETS, who have been lounging on the ledge, jump to their feet as if surprised and go to stand with their halberds like statues on either side of the throne. Almost immediately from the second right exit come HAROLD, LANDOLPH, ORDULPH, and BERTHOLD—young men paid by the MARCHESE CARLO DI NOLLI to act the part of ‘Privy Counsellors’—vassals drawn from the minor aristocracy at the court of Henry IV, and thus dressed as eleventh-century German knights.
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