Actor Sean O’Shea will be heading to Perth with the Bell Sharespeare Company to perform in ‘Henry IV.’ Taking on several roles in this adaptation that combines ‘Henry IV’ Part I and Part II, O’Shea will be sharing the stage with some of Australia’s most acclaimed actors. Speaking to OUTinPerth from Canberra where the show was in its final rehearsals O’Shea shared with us why Shakespeare’s play stands the test of time. 

“It’s full of fantastic characters that really you could still find now,” said O’Shea, “We look for connections between then and now and the politics of today. You certainly don’t have to go far in our politics to find people trying to take over power from people in charge and various factions. We’ve gone for quite a contemporary look for this production.”

Although this production combines two large plays O’Shea asssures us that we’re really not missing out anything through the adaptation.

“It’s a wonderful story that covers a lot of years and the whole array of Henry IV going into Henry V, but in the original there’s a lot of the politics of the day, a lot of various rebellions that come up… It’s truncated and a lot is cut out but an audience of the day would have known all those people, but to a contemporary audience a lot of that is lost. It’s good to cut it up.”

O’Shea says people who haven’t seen Shakespeare before should give it a go. “It’s not like you can’t live life without Shakespeare,” he laughs, “but he’s great at putting humanity on stage and that’s what amazes me…he’s puts quite extrodinary and vivid characters on stage but yet they appear so recognisable to us.”

The Bell Shakespeare Company’s production of Henry IV will be at the State Theatre Centre from April 5-13. Tickets are available through ticketek.com.au