Some of the most important events in Shakespeare do not happen

The beginning of Shakespeare's 2 Henry IV takes the form of an address to the audience, as a single figure enters the stage and speaks a choric prologue directly to the auditorium. The performance technique that is enacted here is familiar enough from many other plays in the period, especially those that deal with history. However, this one is not content simply with raising the issue of the representation of prior historical events. It goes a stage further, playing with the inevitability of such events being misconstrued