Henry V

[fajrdrako]

Went to see Henry V this evening at the Irving Greenberg Theatre, put on by the Third Wall Company. I've wanted to see something by them ever since they did Murder in the Cathedral a few years ago, and I missed it.

I was reassured tonight: maybe I was better off missing it.

It was a motion-filled production of Henry V. Lots of climbing on the scaffolding. Everyone enunciated clearly and shouted most of the time. Shouted so much that no one was left with any personality but Henry. The French princess was totally charmless; Henry would have been better off with her rather stolid, plump lady in waiting. Falstaff was omitted. The costumes (drab khaki uniforms, mostly) didn't fit. I rather liked the staging (with red scaffolding) but they kept trying to differentiate the French from the English with large flags - the cross of St. George on one, the fleurs-de-lys on the other - and the flags kept falling down as soon as they went up.

At one point maaseru whispered to me, "When directors don't know what to do, they move the furniture."

Oh for a muse of fire...

Comments

[blackbird_song]

I'm so sorry that you were subjected to that production. Henry V has been one of my two favourite plays since I was four or five years old, and I probably would either have wept or screamed if I'd seen what you just described.

"When directors don't know what to do, they move the furniture."

This is so true! And between that and the falling flags, I'm envisioning this production as a sort of live-action version of the first half of an episode of The Hotel Inspector. The only difference is that it sounds as though there wasn't any improvement by the end of the show.

Catherine

[fajrdrako]

Luckily I've seen good productions of Henry V - and I really love the Branagh movie. I coped with this one by 'fixing' it in my head, sometimes by recasting, sometimes by imagining their dialogue as being delivered at something less than a shout.

One of the funniest things is that they ended it with Henry V dropping dead right in front of us at the end. That was unexpected!

[blackbird_song]

One of the funniest things is that they ended it with Henry V dropping dead right in front of us at the end. That was unexpected!

......I have no words.

*shakes head and follows Henry's suit*