Bell Shakespeare’s are touring a production of ‘Henry V’ for the first time in over ten years. The historical play tells the tale of King Henry V, who lead England into battle with France to make claim to the throne. The play is perhaps most famous for its recreation of the Battle of Agincourt, which features the king giving the famous speech beginning with ‘Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more’. Both Lawrence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh have taken a turn as the lead role.
This production has used an inventive concept to bring the text to life. The play is set in an English school in World War Two, where a number of schoolchildren, a teacher and a nurse are taking shelter from air raids. Fitting, as Lawrence Olivier starred in a highly patriotic film adaptation of the play in 1944 in dedication to British soldiers.
This setting is a clever device that reminds the audience of the ongoing nature of conflict, one of the play’s main subjects and the reason it is arguably still relevant today. The beginning of the play sees our schoolteacher turned narrator set up the play within a play. The schoolchildren all have a lot of fun picking up scripts and playing with characters before things take a more serious turn and the horrors of the play start to mirror the horrors of their own wartime reality.
The setting of the play provides a fair share of humour, as well as allowing the actors to slip in and out of different roles without disrupting the story. By positioning the story within this world, the characters onstage are able to be drawn into the story alongside the audience, giving the feeling that this fictional battleground is equal parts imagined by the performers and the spectators.
There is a sense of magic in watching the classroom turn into a battleground; bookcases turn into barracks, paper becomes armour, and long journeys are completed through shadow puppetry. The ensemble work admirably over the course of two and a half hours to draw the audience into an adventurous, adrenaline-charged and often harrowing story.
‘Henry V’ is at the State Theatre Centre until July 26th. More information available here.
Sophie Joske
