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Get ready for lift-off
Published 15 November 2007
French soldiers fly high above King Hal in the RSC's latest production
Henry V Courtyard Theatre, Stratford
Since London theatres are currently full of somewhat youthful audiences, it was almost with a sense of nostalgia that I saw those attending Henry V at Stratford-upon-Avon's Courtyard Theatre were resoundingly middle-aged. This is the way things were when theatre was unhip and resolutely traditional. Indeed, when the Chorus (Forbes Masson) begins Michael Boyd's period-dress production, one could almost sense a pleasurable inhalation of untroubled expectation.
Indeed, at first no modernising liberties appear to have been taken with this most famous of the Histories. As Henry V, Geoffrey Streatfeild has sobered up a great deal since his riotous incarnation of Prince Hal in Boyd's productions of Henry IV, parts I and II. Now the throne is his, Streatfeild plays Harry as serious, booted, clad in black, holding his crown with holy reverence almost as often as wearing it. He is a king who cares deeply about his moral conduct as well as that of his soldiers.
But once the scene-setting is over, and the fighting begins, Boyd drops the traditional, and arms himself with a stunningly original conceit in which to dramatise the famous conflict at Agincourt.
The English may have God, Harry and Saint George on their side, but they are not fancy dressers. There is the odd ruffle at the neck, but that is all. Solemn and solid, these are serious, black-clad men, feet are firmly on the ground. Whereas the French are, quite literally, in mid-air, sitting on trapezes some 20 feet off the ground. Charles VI, played by Sandy Neilson with tragic seniority, sits on a Perspex throne jutting out from a 15ft tower, while his son, the blond, becurled and jewelled Dauphin (delightfully camp John Mackay) and his comrades dangle up high from velvet swings, their glorious peacock-blue and gilded costumes swooping down around them.
Each man is sporting a frock coat with an overly long tail, and the Constable of France (Antony Bunsee) even has an earring and black nail varnish. They swing on their trapezes talking of palfreys and knights, looking more like characters in an illuminated manuscript than hardened soldiers. When Lady Katherine (Alexia Healy) comes to join the fun, she is transported from the ceiling on to the stage via a giant, gilded picture frame, as if she were a painting of a medieval beauty.
While the flirty French behave as if not quite at a cabaret, then at least at a jolly good circus, beneath them, the grounded Streatfeild takes command, delivering the "Band of Brothers" speech on the eve of Agincourt with heartfelt confidence. After the hail of longbow arrows, thrillingly conveyed by unfurling white ribbons fired from the balconies of the theatre, the French are literally brought down to earth. Humiliated, they step on to the stage, dragging coffins behind them, their proud, glorious vestments shorn short. It is not only an intelligent, but also a witty and intensely visual dramatisation by Boyd, aided by Matt Costain as director of ropework and Tom Piper's glorious design.
Alongside all this marvellously nuanced nobility, the lowlife looks a little lacklustre; Julius D'Silva is a lusty Bardolph, pissing up against the wall by way of introduction, his alcohol-inflamed face a riot of pustules. Pistol (Nicholas Asbury) is suitably sly and his comrade Nym (Keith Dunphy) amusingly droll. But with Sir John Falstaff dying off-stage, his name almost forgotten by his previous chums, Harry's former scamps are little more than a side-show to the main moral thrust of the piece, which presents the King's claim to the French throne as not only just, but also God-given.
Surrounded by genuflecting officers, Streatfeild is such a convincing a man of action, and his crown looks so becoming atop his armour that one ends up feeling rather sorry for the House of Windsor. At least these Plantagenets didn't have to spend their time on the English throne dawdling in "idle ceremony".
For further info and booking details visit http://www.rsc.org.uk
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