launches us dynamically into the action without preamble but that was not clear to the company when we first approached this scene. The text, like most early modern texts, lacks clear stage directions and the dialogue appeared flat and repetitive. The SQM company had to work hard to find the implied stage action; our key staging interpretations are annotated in notes on specific moments in the scene. The scene introduces the audience to the play’s protagonist, Prince Harry, immediately after he has robbed his king’s receivers (i.e., tax-collectors). Unlike Shakespeare’s Hal, the prince of this play does not indicate that he is engaged in a political masquerade. As director, I wanted to ensure that our performances of the Queen’s Men plays were not distorted by our knowledge of the use Shakespeare made of the same stories. From the outset of the play the prince is an unapologetic bad boy, playfully and enthusiastically reveling in his misbehavior. Our nationalistic interpretation of the play depended on the audience identifying with the prince as their hero. Paul Hopkins’s charismatic performance was a powerful factor in their reception of the play. The prince’s lines are full of rhetorical questions, such as Now, sirs, how like you this? Was not this bravely done? (). In performance, the character’s demand for affirmation of his deeds worked on the audience as well as the other characters on the stage. Given that the original Queen’s Men were formed in part to promote English nationalism, our interpretation of the prince was designed to make this prodigal son an engaging and sympathetic English hero. In this scene, Hopkins worked with the younger actors to generate a manly camaraderie that came to define the spirit of the SQM performance.