I love the Globe Theatre, and up until today i had...

I love the Globe Theatre, and up until today i had nothing but praise for a theatre that staged quality productions in an excellent setting. However their current production of Henry IV pt2 was really very poor. I found the 'gender bending' of roles confusing, unecessary, with female actors not bringing anything new to the roles, except to ape cliched and stereorypical male tropes. Poor definition of characters by the ensemble actors left me fumbling for the programme to determine which 'faction they were representing at that moment, (and i know the play fairly well). Actors failed to deliver lines with any sense of understanding, leaving me to read to subtitles to understand the lines. Costuming was confused, and blocking of moves clumsy, with the last straws for me being the 'bloke in a dress' ( no effort even with a wig) playing Lady Northumberland, Jonathon Broadbent's impression of 'mammy' Agnes Brown, and the one that broke the camel's back; the hackneyed stereotypical 'gay' Francis Feeble. This is what i would expect from a 'student' production NOT the Globe Theatre. I left at the interval, something i have not done in 40+ years of theatre going.