“Player Kings” is two shows for the price of one, with director Robert Icke combining the two historical plays of Shakespeare’s “Henry IV.”

The production presents a compressed version of the royal accession story that runs for about four hours in this version. This is a chance to experience Ian McKellen’s unbridled love of performance. At 84, the production’s leading man has an energy and enthusiasm that belies his years.

“Player Kings” — which runs at the Noël Coward Theater through June 22 before touring England — is the latest in a wave of recent high-profile Shakespeare productions in London. Uniquely among other great British theater actors of his generation, McKellen still returns to the stage year after year, most recently tackling Lear for the second time and playing an aging Hamlet.

Perhaps inevitably, this production has the feel of a star vehicle. In the play John Falstaff’s “Sweet Creature of Bombust,” McKellen has a particularly juicy assignment – a large character whose appetite for life matches the actor’s own zest. We are told that quite Falstaff has not seen his knees in years, and when he sits it is as if he could never stand. However, his mouth is always in motion, as if constantly chewing food for fuel.

He’s also a necessary companion to drug-addicted Prince Hal (the excellent Tohaib Jamoh, Emmy nominee for “Ted Lasso”), whose coming-of-age story — becoming, as he puts it, “more himself.” – connects these two “Henry IV” plays. But Hal’s radiant maturity has cost him the companion he once held dear.

In the second half of the production, a shrewd Falstaff says, “Put out Jack, and put out all the world,” Hall enacts one of Shakespeare’s most merciless scenes. And Jimoh – who played a remarkable Romeo in Alameda last year – once again shows a fluency with Renaissance language that bodes well for his own Shakespearean future.

Icke has not directed Shakespeare in London since 2017, when Andrew Scott produced his Hamlet. Like this show, “Player Kings” uses modern clothing, but it eschews video and hand-held cameras for a relatively straightforward style. Icke’s directorial hand is less evident in this production. Captions now and again appear above the stage telling us where we are, and Hildegard Batchelor’s brick wall set features curtains running the width of the stage to change locations.

Contemporary resonances are inevitable. Looking at the party boy Hall from earlier scenes, whose devil-may-care carelessness will wear off over time, you can’t help but think of Britain’s own Prince Harry, and a royal villain. His one-time reputation as a boy.

The aging King Henry (an ashen Richard Coyle) is a brooding, brooding figure who could embrace any child in a contrastingly enthusiastic manner to Falstaff, who is a far more pleasant figure than the father. (Hall, too, might admonish today’s tabloid press, referring to the derogatory term “inferential newsmakers”.)

Icke’s adaptation never lets us forget that war is raging in the background. Mutiny, fighting and bloodshed are rarely out of sight, and there is a disturbing moment – ​​not to be revealed – in which Falstaff’s cruel potential is revealed.

Part 2, as written, is longer on drama and could be more satisfying: more poetic and reflective, less of a stiff action film in embryo. Not so on this occasion, where the cuts show a desire to get to the end quickly, and the female characters – Doll Tearshit (Tafline Stan) and Mistress Quickly (Claire Perkins) – are notably sidelined.

You also miss the brutal presence of Hotpur (Samuel Edward Cook), Hal’s rival whose death brings Part 1 to its climax. (Charismatic Edward Cook doubles as Falstaff’s blowhard sidekick, Pistol.)

These omissions are unlikely to make much of a difference to the players drawn by the aforementioned title star, who took a lifetime to play Falstaff after playing two other roles in Part 2 during his student days. Waited For : Indeed, the playbill references McKellen’s biography. Shakespeare Credits – A Single Impressive List

McKellen revels in every moment of the language that comes from Falstaff, whose fondness for verbal embellishment and exaggeration is part of his charm. But you equally feel the need that drives Falstaff to savor every experience, including physical experiences.

Then why not hand over this role to the life force of the English theatre? “You bear your years very well,” says Justice Shiloh (Robin Sons), greeting the wild-haired Falstaff midway through Part 2. His audience will surely drink it up.

Player Kings

At London’s Noel Coward Theater until June 22, then touring; playerkingstheplay.co.uk.