Pirandello's Henry IV is a rich, in tricate tapestry of past and present, illusion and reality, love, jealousy and revenge, woven around a madman-hero a philosopher-king on the grand scale of the philosopher-prince of Denmark. Admirably revived by the Yale School of Drama Repertory Theater, the 46-year-old play shimmers with existential immediacy.
The complex plot defies easy unraveling even in Eric Bentley's swift and supple version. In a historical pageant held 20 years before the action of the play begins in 1922, an Italian noble man (Kenneth Haigh) had his horse tripped by a rival for his mistress' favors....
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