TheatreGuide London on Henry V, May 2002
'henry 5'
The Shaw
British Touring Shakespeare
At long last, a theatre company that does Shakespeare - and indeed theatre - the way it should be done. The brainchild of director Miles Gregory, this is drama at its most human that talks to the gods and mercilessly plunders popular culture, particularly that golden period of seventies to early eighties British TV, with a relish that would make Steven Berkoff sick with envy.
British Touring Shakespeare takes on the ritual of medieval society and its complex interrelationships with little more than an array of boiler suits, donkey jackets, and a bare stage with a pair of clothes hangers. The Chorus, in the matey form of Mike Rogers, invites the audience into a world where Tom Mallaburn's Henry is an ex-public schoolboy anxious to be seen doing the right thing.
His values learnt on the playing fields of privilege survive - the taking part in the carnage of Agincourt seems more important than the winning. Indeed, Mallaburn's roll call of the fallen is a spine-tingling moment where, after all this testosterone-fuelled political jockeying, the enormity of the human cost sinks in.
Tom Walwyn goes wonderfully over the top as the Dauphin, contrasting with Clive Fryde's doddery but eagle-eyed King of France. Tobias Beer goes for an insanely believable Fluellen in the style of Windsor Davies, upstaged only by David Barnaby's Uncle Albert of a Pistol.
Laden with irony, the dialogue is dotted with improvisatory grace notes, while Barbara Capocci's sparse design and Kevin James' subtle lighting prove how less is best, ensuring the audience is privy to each huddle of intrigue or part of each charge.
In unashamedly placing patriotism above nationalism, this production satisfyingly gives no quarter.
Nick Awde
