Why Hotspur Makes Sense As A Woman In ‘Henry IV, Part I’

At the Oregon Shakespeare Festival this year, the role of Hotspur is played by Alejandra Escalante, and it works brilliantly. “She’s too much. She’s too blunt and too loud and she never stops talking. She knows what she’s worth, and she’s worked hard to prove it, but these days that isn’t enough anymore. Now everyone says she needs to be quieter, needs to be gentler, needs to not be the things – aggressive, impulsive, passionate, utterly wholly constantly sincere – that have helped her claw her way to where she is. Which Shakespeare heroine? Why, Harry Percy.”