London
Henry V
By William Shakespeare
Four Stars ****

Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre to 09 July
Inner Circus,
Westminster
NW1 4NU

Runs: 2hr 35 with 20min interval

TICKETS: 0844 826 4242 
On-line: www.openairtheatre.com

Review: by Carole Woddis of performance seen June 28, 2016:

Traditional lines,with contemporary pointers
A female Henry V is apparently not new. During WW1, the Regent’s Park programme informs us, the part was taken by `the fifteen year old Fabia Drake as a diminutive Henry in baggy chain mail.’

One hundred years later, on the eve of the Chilcot Report, Michelle Terry plays Shakespeare’s martial `hero’ as a female monarch, more Elizabeth I than the last woman to lead England into war, namely Lady Thatcher.

Terry makes the role her own, a stocky figure in chic check shorts and suit who speaks with commanding clarity: a no nonsense, competent leader whose legitimacy for starting her campaign in France (vis Iraq!) comes in the rueful legalistic report of David Sibley’s civil servant type Archbishop of Canterbury.

Terry’s is an appealing portrayal if without the tentative shadings Alex Hassell brought to his RSC warrior king when the `wild boy’ of Cheapside could be seen physically growing into the role of commander-in-chief and Greg Doran soaked his production in a regretful WW1 anti-heroism.

Director Robert Hastie, for all his casting innovations, cuts a fairly traditional line. The French are still fops, the English – notwithstanding Pistol, Nym and Bardolph, rascals as ever – a `band of brothers’, scared but jolly good sorts.

Decked out in modern SAS battle fatigues, Hastie’s brave company (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre can be harsh in inclement weather competing with the thump- thump from a nearby party) would seem to give an immediate connection to recent history on Anna Fleischle’s bare grilled stage.

Direct allusions to Chilcot are however elusive. But Hastie’s squaddie dominated production is a sharp reminder of a leader’s responsibility when waging war and the Blair/Bush resort to self-righteous religious `right’ to validate their war-monger – as does our battle heroine here.

Hastie’s cross-casting extends also to a female Chorus (Charlotte Cornwell), female captains for Fluellen and MacMorris and Ben Wiggins, a male Katherine, suitably reserved and spikey.

Visually arresting, as befits an outdoor production, Hastie’s smoke and thunder production is absorbing enough whilst leaving audiences to draw their own conclusions and parallels – unlike Phyllida Lloyd’s all female History productions firmly reframed to awaken new contexts.

Henry V
By William Shakespeare

Cast:
Captain Fluellen: Catrin Aaron
Pistol: Philip Arditti
The Dauphin: Alex Bhat
Duke of Warwick: Raphael Bushay
Lord Scroop, Duke of Orleans: Phil Cheadle
Chorus: Charlotte Cornwell
Lieutenant Bardolph, Bates: Bobby Delaney
Duke of Exeter: Ryan Ellsworth
Captain Jamy, Nell Quickly, Duke of Beaumont: Polly Frame
Corporal Nym, Duke of Burgundy: Beruce Khan
Duke of Bedford: Syrus Lowe
Williams, Le Fer: Jack McMullen
Duke of Westmoreland: Dyfrig Morris
Captain MacMorris, Montjoy: Jessica Regan
Alice, Bishop of Ely: Joy Richardson
Archbishop of Canterbury, King of France,
Sir Thomas Erpingham: David Sibley
Captain Gower: Cat Simmons
King Henry: Michelle Terry
Constable of France: Dwane Walcott
The Boy, Princess Katherine: Ben Wiggins

Other characters played by members of the Company

Patricia Allison, Matthew Middulph, Tiffany Clare, Owen Landon, Jo McGarry, Ved Sapru, Maciej Trzpis-Miedziewski, Rebecca Turner from East 15 Acting School appear by agreement with Equity

Director: Robert Hastie
Set and Costume Designer: Anna Fleischle
Movement Director: John Ross
Composer: Yaron Engler
Lighting Designer: Joshua Carr
Sound Designer: Avgoustos Psillas for Autograph
Season Associate Director
(Voice & Text): Barbara Houseman
Fight Director: Kate Waters
Casting Director: Alastair Coomer CDG
Associate Designer: Loren Elstein
Assistant Director: Zoé Ford

First perf of this production of Henry V at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, London, June 17, 2016

For more info see: www.openairtheatre.com

2016-07-01 18:03:34