Walking into Screen 3 at the Piccadilly Circus Apollo, I entered
an empty auditorium with a blank screen. Wrong place, I thought, and went straight
back through the door to check the Screen number.
Ticket, Screen 3. Sign above the door, Screen, 3. I was in
the right place.
I re-entered and picked a seat half way up and half way
across, and waited, alone. This was more like Samuel Beckett than Shakespeare. Eventually,
however, the lights dimmed, the screen burst into life and . . . it was a trailer for the latest Romeo
and Juliet blockbuster. Shakespeare utopia!
Eventually, the main event; and it started with a right
crash, bang, wallop, as musicians circled the Chorus, played by actress Brid
Brennan. Eventually, the belligerent banging ceased, and she approached the
front of the stage to address the crowd. This is a crucial opening monologue: a
post-modern apology for the limitations of the stage; an eloquent prolepsis,
brilliantly written. Brid Brennan’s cheery delivery thus got us underway, and she
popped up at key points throughout the proceedings to explain the various
settings and locations.
Henry V is an exploration of one of Shakespeare’s favourite
themes – leadership. However, unlike King Lear or Julius Caesar, which explore
decline and fall, this is a story of a man’s ascent to greatness. It is also a
story of personal transformation. In the Henry IV plays, the future Henry V
features as a wanton wastrel, young Hal, who spends his time boozing with old
reprobates at the Boar’s Head tavern. Misspent youth is actually an
important motif throughout this play, referenced in the bawdy banter of his old
drinking companions, Ancient Pistol, Bardolph and Nim. It also surfaces in frequent references
to his tarnished reputation, and in the insult of a casket of tennis balls sent
by the French Dauphin – the final straw that tips Anglo-Gallic tensions into
all-out war.
However, as Henry V strides around the stage, we see a man
already transformed into a King. Jamie
Parker’s portrayal is masterly, showing a man of great charisma, authority and
emotional intelligence. The German sociologist Max Weber introduced the concept
of “ideal type” – the defining distillation of a role or institution. Jamie Parker’s Henry embodies such an ideal
type – the very essence of effective Kingship.
For those unfamiliar with the play, the initial interactions
between the reprobates at the Boar's Head can be confusing. The discourse is,
however, highly amusing, and important in terms of the narrative; giving voice
to the poor but spirited common man, who would rather spend his time in the
pub, but is caught up in national mobilisation for a brutal war. During these
early exchanges, Hal’s old mentor, Falstaff, dies unseen in the inn, so his young
assistant joins the army too. Both innocence and experience are thus represented.
So too are the different nations of the British Isles,
through entertaining comic stereotypes. Of these, the main character is the patriotic
Welshman, Fluellen (trans: Llewellyn), generously played by Brendan O’ Hea. While
Shakespeare signifies ethnicity through rich stereotype, he also plays with and
undermines such two dimensional characterisations. Thus, while we enjoy the politically
incorrect gags, we come to like this well-meaning and competent soldier; an
honourable and welcome counterfoil to the sleazy English thief, Ancient Pistol.
The French are also portrayed using stereotype, though it
does not dominate our understanding of them. The Dauphin is played by Kurt
Egyiawan, who accentuates the young man’s arrogance, and his ultimately fatal disregard
for the English King and his people. David Hargreaves, as Charles VI, presents
a fragile and anxious ruler who fully understands the threat to his crown and
country.
As the play descends into butchery we witness a second
transformation in Henry, from a thrusting, young warrior, revelling in the
glory of war, to a seasoned, wiser leader, having been confronted with the carnage of this conflict. At the end of the battle of Agincourt, we
see a chastened, more compassionate man. This personal transformation sets the
scene for the final peace-brokering between England and France, and Henry’s difficult
wooing of the lynchpin in this deal, the French princess, Catherine, delightfully played
by Olivia Ross. The transformation from Hal the wastrel to Henry the
international statesman is complete.
As an exposition of leadership, Henry V is a master-class.
It shows how the greatest leaders combine a command of the dramatic, with focus,
determination and drive. In this year of the death of Margaret Thatcher, and
the sixth year of Obama’s presidency, Henry V is still very much the ideal type
of leadership; widely emulated but inevitably unmatched. An ideal expounded,
explored and ultimately undermined by Shakespeare.
As I left the auditorium, I looked around at all the empty
seats – testimony to the hundreds of Londoners who could have been transformed
by this compelling drama . . . but couldn’t be bothered. What if a brilliant
leader emerged, and no one turned up to hear him speak?
Indeed, what is a leader without an audience?
You can see Henry V in cinemas around the world. To find a cinema screening, go to http://onscreen.shakespearesglobe.com/#/findvenue
A DVD of this performance in available later on this year.