HENRY V: till 5 June
HENRY V: William Shakespeare
Northern Broadsides, touring in rep with Woman Killed with Kindness till 5 June
(www.northern-broadsides.co.uk)
Runs: 3h, one interval, till
Review: Rod Dungate, Warwick Arts Centre, 11 March 2003
Dynamic and direct – an honesty that has the power to move mountains
Broadsides' hallmark, stripped bare, no-nonsense style certainly makes for a highly distinctive Henry V. Shakespeare's Henry V is a blokey monarch – he holds on to this characteristic but (at the end of Henry IV Pt 2) jettisons the waster characteristic (both 'learned' from his time with Falstaff.) Director Rutter homes in on this bloke element – brought to the fore both in Conrad Nelson's matter-of-fact performance and in Rutter's choice of no panoply for him.
But more than this, the simple wooden O floor cum set, bare rear walls, cobbled-together off-the-street costumes and carefully reproduced Northern accents create for the production an extraordinarily strong sense of acting out a story. Time and time again you can't help thinking 'This is the closest I'll get to a Trades Guild performance'. The company's passion powerfully communicated to us and their honesty, is the fruit in the lardy cake.
Nelson's Henry, in the first half, would hardly stand out in a crowd. This is simply a man who has a job to do – and he does it through hard work, not through position. However, as he moves into the second half (particularly as we move to Agincourt) he becomes more inward-thinking, more centred and loving, in a word, more kingly. But the king, the production ever reminds us, is the man: he cannot be his trappings – he has none.
There are a great many delights. High among them Maeve Larkin's Princess Katherine – impish, haughty (we are certain she's only putting it on) and very funny: with her Lady (Nicola Sanderson) they are a great pair. Tim Barker's Pistol has much to be admired: he reminds me of a gentleman who's hit the gutter. He mixes manners (or the outward show of them) with an unpleasantly dishonest self.
Andy Hockley and Paul Barnhill (Fluellan and Gower) make much of their characters' friendship. The rapport between them is palpable: while they're never quite a double act their humour constantly brightens the proceedings (it's easy to understand why Henry holds them in esteem). Hockley (mostly reviewed on ReviewsGate for his unique Dame performances in Coventry) beautifully places the moment when Fluellan reminds us of Falstaff but fails to remember his name. Shakespeare, here, bringing his play full circle.
Chorus: Barrie Rutter
Ely/ Fluellan: Andy Hockley
Canterbury/ Jamy/ Erpingham: Roy North
Henry V: Conrad Nelson
Gloucester: Roger Burnett
Exeter: Frank Moorey
Montjoy: Richard Standing
Nym/ Orleans: John Gully
Bardolph/ Bates/ Le Fer: Andrew Whitehead
Pistol: Tim Barker
Mistress Quickly: Jacqueline Redgewell
Boy: Adam Sunderland
Cambridge/ Macmorris: Dennis Conlon
Scroop/ Williams: Andrew Vincent
Grey/ Gower: Paul Barnhill
Charles VI: David Bowen
Dolphin: Guy Parry
Constable: Jason Furnival
Katherine: Maeve Larkin
Alice: Nicola Sanderson
Director: Barrie Rutter
Designers: Giuseppe Belli and Emma Barrington-Binns
Composer: Conrad Nelson
Lighting: Kay Packwood
2003-03-13 14:18:45