“Rare Accidents,” now running at Quintessence Theatre, is an enthusiastic presentation of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2. Organized into three parts with two intermissions, Quintessence dives into Shakespeare’s play cycle that combines English history with vibrant characters and provocative ideas.

“Henry IV” follows “Richard II,” after Bolingbroke usurps the crown. Now, as Henry IV, the new king lacks the time to assuage his conscience because a fresh rebellion challenges his reign. Shakespeare develops a trio of father-son relationships, springing life into the historical record in “Holinshed’s Chronicles.”

The Percys of the barony of Northumberland, long the guardians of the Scottish border, warred on behalf of Bolingbroke in “Richard II.” They now feel jilted by the new king and spearhead a revolt. Daniel Chase Miller plays Northumberland’s son, Hotspur, with gusto, capturing your attention at the get-go as he vows “to pluck bright honor from the pale-faced moon.”

Despite this new enmity, King Henry IV envies Lord Northumberland in having “so blest a son,” comparing Hotspur’s valor favorably to the behavior of his own son. The king laments that Prince Hal hangs out at a cheap tavern, keeps low company and only stands for “riot and dishonor.”

The third father-son relationship between Prince Hal and Falstaff is figurative. It is also a temporization, as cunning Prince Hal informs us in an early soliloquy: “Nothing pleaseth but rare accidents... like bright metal on a sullen ground, my reformation glittering o’er my fault.” It sums up Hal, a Machiavellian “Prince” who connives to reenact the “Prodigal Son” parable for his advancement.

Falstaff and Hal are the beating heart of “Henry IV.” Winner of multiple Barrymore awards, Scott Greer’s Falstaff is a practiced rogue who lives an ebullient life of carousing and crime. Greer is deliciously comic as Falstaff wiggles out of every scrape. But for all his wit and worldliness, Falstaff never grasps that Prince Hal is using him.

In “Henry IV,” Shakespeare is in high philosophical mode. Centuries before poet-philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, Shakespeare dives into “the revaluation of all values.” Falstaff represents individual freedom as an absolute. For him, high-sounding calls for morality are inauthentic: “What is honor? A word. What is in that word honor? Air. A trim reckoning...” Falstaff honors liberty and his creative gifts.

Falstaff’s connection to others lies only in the joy he feels in bringing them to life. “I am not only witty in myself, but the cause that wit is in the other man.” As Prince Hal, Tyler Bey makes you feel an opposing value: wit in service to the state. Hal only visits Falstaff’s world to take what he can use. With wit and revelry as veil, Bey’s Prince Hal embodies the discipline, duty and ruthlessness it takes to be an effective king.

Director Alex Burns assembles an impressive cast. As Henry IV, Phillip Brown is not only regal in bearing but expressively dim-witted in relation to his sly son. Christopher Mullen conveys the frail indecision of Lord Northumberland in contrast to Hotspur. The costume design of Anna Sorrentino aids four actors in fleshing out a multiplicity of roles. Fight director Sean Bradley creates stirring battle scenes; together with the light design of John Burkland, the show whisks you through the Battle of Shrewsbury.

But director Burns also mucks up the show with hobby-horse impositions. Continually, we see Hal half-naked with Poins (Sam Pottinger) at Boar’s Head Tavern. There is ample homoeroticism in Shakespeare, but not in this play. In the script, Poins is just an embittered, second-son aristocrat with poor prospects, Hal’s witty confidant and nasty co-conspirator. There is more. We also see medieval King Henry IV dying in a modern bed, complete with a saline drip. Please...

And yet, the Quintessence production succeeds despite itself. When Falstaff attends Hal’s coronation march through the streets, Hal, now Henry V, echoes the biblical betrayal of Peter, saying, “I know thee not old man.” Worldly Falstaff is shocked and disbelieving. He vows, “I shall be sent for in private.” It is one of the great events in all theater, an ending so dramatic and affecting you almost forget the ideas these two represent.

Quintessence Theatre is located at 7137 Germantown Ave. in Mt. Airy. “Rare Accidents” will run through March 15. Tickets are available at quintessencetheatre.org.