Shakespearean history been filmed stand-alone, outside of the cycle at large. Famous examples include "Henry V" (1944), directed by and starring Laurence Olivier, and "Henry V" (1989), directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh; "Richard III" (1955), directed by and starring Olivier, and "Richard III" (1995), directed by Richard Loncraine and starring Ian McKellen; and "Chimes at Midnight" (1965) (also known as "Falstaff"), directed by and starring Orson Welles, combining "Henry IV, Part I" and "Part II", with some scenes from "Henry V". Shakespearean history In the First Folio, the plays of William Shakespeare were grouped into three categories: comedies, histories, and tragedies.
Shakespearean history Shakespearean history In the First Folio, the plays of William Shakespeare were grouped into three categories: comedies, histories, and tragedies. The histories—along with those of contemporary Renaissance playwrights—help define the genre of history plays. The histories might be more accurately called the "English history plays" and include the outliers "King John" and "Henry VIII" as well as a continuous sequence of eight plays covering the Wars of the Roses. These last are considered to have been composed in two cycles. The so-called first tetralogy, apparently written in the early 1590s, deals with the later part of the struggle and includes