Hal is sick of partying, so he conquers France. He's really good at it.
People who should see this show:
Everyone. Get off the computer and get to it right now.
At last: a show I knew well enough not to have to read up on beforehand. Henry V, England's greatest king (I like his son better), and one of Shakespeare's favourite historical subjects. The play comes smack in the middle of the histories, and was written just in the middle of Shakespeare's career. Rousing speeches, well-written characters and lots of action, against a backdrop that Elizabethans must have enjoyed ("We beat the French").I loved it. Even though when I think about it, I might actually be on the side of the French (next on my summer reading list: Henry V, War Criminal? by John Sutherland and Cedric Watts), I was totally rooting for Henry.
I loved it so much that I didn't mind waiting for hours ahead of time. Even the commercial before the show was kinda fun. What a difference good direction makes. Meg Roe's staging was flawless.
I must admit, we went about it the wrong way. We should have seen Falstaff first, as probably everyone else is going to do. There were a few scenes that we knew would have been more powerful if we'd seen the back story more recently, rather than just vaguely remembering it. But they were still emotionally satisfying, and I'm hard-pressed to see how I could have enjoyed the show more.
The play is narrated throughout, much more so than any of Shakespeare's other plays (according to Wikipedia, anyway). Collen Wheeler's Chorus achieves admirably the very difficult task of making me use my imagination during summer vacation as she instructs my mind to picture vast sets and cast of thousands before me. Her commanding presence, combined with Pam Johnson's simple and effective set, and the brilliantly choreographed battle scenes (thank you choreographer Rob Kitsos and fight director Nicholas Harrison) made me always willing to believe that the battle had just occured in front of my eyes.
All the performances were great, but most important in this one is obviously Henry's; he has to carry the show. Alessandro Juliani did a brilliant job. One slight problem I have had with other Henrys is knowing that he has been, as prince Hal, a party boy for his whole life, but that as soon as his father dies he suddenly becomes the serious king who conquers France. Juliani's performance maintains Henry's youthful demeanor; we see the change starting during the play itself, but the transformation is only fully realized at the end of the play. I enjoy that. His rousing speeches are not the studied rhetoric I've seen before; they are impassioned pleas made by a guy who used to party with the commoners.
As we left the tent, we thought pityingly of the poor suckers at the mainstage, stuck watching Antony and Cleopatra for another half-hour. If I had it to do over again, I would have skipped it entirely in order to see Henry V twice.
Absolutely see it. I'll go with you. Plays until September 24.
Some Highlights:
Kevin McNulty's history lesson as the Archbishop of Canterbury: the perfect way to begin the show, he made the most boring part of the piece hilarious.
Rob Kitsos and Nicholas Harrison's battle and marching scenes: pure brilliance. Normally I put fight-dances in the same category as dream ballets -- embarrassing and best ignored completely. These were amazing, and actually heightened the drama of the piece.
Josef Gustafson: totally held his own with the adults on the stage. Really well done.
Amber Lewis and Kayla Doerksen's scenes: very funny.
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