Read Henry V finally, on Thursday night. I think every cast member has at least one role in the show, not to mention one of the directors. We didn't talk too much about the "concept" for the show, but it's obvious our director is very familiar with the show and he had some interesting things to say about it.
Some of my thoughts, post-read-through:
THERE ARE A LOT OF LINES. Nothing that was cut will be too sorely missed.
Canterbury/Ely conversation cut...oh, well...Making the audience sit through both that and the "King Pharamond" would be a little much to ask.
Henry's charge to Canterbury to "take heed" with the impawning is a warning to be fully open and truthful or is it Henry divesting himself legally of responsibility for what may happen later, because "we hear note and believe", i.e. Colin Powell said they had W.M.D.s and we trust him so...
Levels, man...it's all about the levels. It'll be a real Roman holiday finding the right tone for the various speeches Henry has. "We are glad the Dauphin is so pleasant..." could end really angry, but then you steal from "You must not dare, for shame, to talk of mercy", which gets sad around "so finely bolted didst thou seem", but can't be too sad anticipating "O, not today, think not upon the fault", which is somewhat cowed, similar to "tell thy king I do not seek him now"...etc. etc. The only part of this show that I feel 100% comfortable with is the tacked-on comedic ending, because it's funny and cute and I can do that.
The Falstaff Gang is fun but I wonder if they're completely necessary. There are plenty other "common" soldiers to play with in the show, like MacMorris and Gower (my girlfriend says they're the superfluous ones). What strikes me is that it seems they really were included because it's a continuation of Hal's through-line from the earlier history plays. You don't have to know anything about Falstaff to enjoy Henry V, but it helps. It's like when I saw Major League 2; I think I was able to work out the basic connections without having seen Major League 1. It's interesting to see Shakespeare paying service to his faithful audience members that way. "Sequels" seem so movie-ish but I guess we didn't invent them.
All three conspirators are being played by women. As if this show wasn't chauvinist enough, now we can't trust them devil women! Lets make the whole French court female (and Montjoy a post-op transgender)!
Well, the French lords that aren't suffering from organic brain dementia or who are suicidally stupid end up sounding like Henry's press agents. No one listens to the constable, anyway. Let's just say, I feel that this side of the battle is under-portrayed. It's like when you watch a Pearl Harbor movie (not Tora! Tora! Tora!, because it doesn't do what I'm describing) and Toshiro Mifune or whoever is playing Yamamoto and he's basically just a guy in an office on the phone saying "Yes. Bomb them now!" in English. Nationalism gets the better of historical accuracy here, for sure. Fun fact: Mifune Toshiro played Adm. Yamamoto in four separate films.
Just a note on Fluellen, Gower, Jamy and MacMorris: archaic racial stereotypes are always funny.
We'll see how a scene entirely in French and broken English (Frenglish?) will play with the good people of White Bear Lake.
Hanging Bardolph on stage FTW!
The French love their horses. Let's just hope the French don't LOVE their horses.
Ah yes, the war debate scene...good stuff. Of course, they're debating the cause of the war AFTER they've invaded the Continent...what does Petruchio say? "Better once than never, for never too late."
St. Crispian's Day rah rah. Up on the balcony maybe? It might be interesting to have the army up on the balcony and on the stage and Henry on the grass DC, exhorting the men but the audience, too by proxy. Heh heh, supposedly the actual historical speech given by Henry was a bit more pragmatic, running more along the lines of "All these French guys are rich, so if they get captured, they'll all be ransomed and get to go home. You poor bastards are broke and will be slaughtered to the last man if we don't win this thing. Uh...on ST. CRISPIN'S DAY!!!"
The battle is, of course, a mess, with both sides breaking the "rules" of war and inventing new ones, as well. Shakespeare inflates the losses a bit; it's more like 250 English lost to 6,000 French. STILL. Those are US Army vs. the Republican Guard type numbers. Those longbows must have come with a money-back guarantee. The French were not really as eager to fight as their scene implies; they were actually waiting for even MORE men to arrive and so the battle didn't start until 3 or so hours after dawn, with an opening volley by English bowmen. Our fights at S&C, whether cavalier, old Scottish, Edwardian, whatever, always feature two to four guys wailing on each other with longswords. It would be cool if we could capture the total quagmire the battle turned into...mud, blood, guys hatcheting each other and knights drowning in their own armor. I'm sure the mud will be vetoed by the costumer, but I'd like this one to be pretty vicious.
And the last scene, which is really cute if you can ignore that this chick is basically being auctioned off to a foreign conqueror so she can crank out a few future kings. Ah, love.
Well, more to come once we start blocking!
Some of my thoughts, post-read-through:
THERE ARE A LOT OF LINES. Nothing that was cut will be too sorely missed.
Canterbury/Ely conversation cut...oh, well...Making the audience sit through both that and the "King Pharamond" would be a little much to ask.
Henry's charge to Canterbury to "take heed" with the impawning is a warning to be fully open and truthful or is it Henry divesting himself legally of responsibility for what may happen later, because "we hear note and believe", i.e. Colin Powell said they had W.M.D.s and we trust him so...
Levels, man...it's all about the levels. It'll be a real Roman holiday finding the right tone for the various speeches Henry has. "We are glad the Dauphin is so pleasant..." could end really angry, but then you steal from "You must not dare, for shame, to talk of mercy", which gets sad around "so finely bolted didst thou seem", but can't be too sad anticipating "O, not today, think not upon the fault", which is somewhat cowed, similar to "tell thy king I do not seek him now"...etc. etc. The only part of this show that I feel 100% comfortable with is the tacked-on comedic ending, because it's funny and cute and I can do that.
The Falstaff Gang is fun but I wonder if they're completely necessary. There are plenty other "common" soldiers to play with in the show, like MacMorris and Gower (my girlfriend says they're the superfluous ones). What strikes me is that it seems they really were included because it's a continuation of Hal's through-line from the earlier history plays. You don't have to know anything about Falstaff to enjoy Henry V, but it helps. It's like when I saw Major League 2; I think I was able to work out the basic connections without having seen Major League 1. It's interesting to see Shakespeare paying service to his faithful audience members that way. "Sequels" seem so movie-ish but I guess we didn't invent them.
All three conspirators are being played by women. As if this show wasn't chauvinist enough, now we can't trust them devil women! Lets make the whole French court female (and Montjoy a post-op transgender)!
Well, the French lords that aren't suffering from organic brain dementia or who are suicidally stupid end up sounding like Henry's press agents. No one listens to the constable, anyway. Let's just say, I feel that this side of the battle is under-portrayed. It's like when you watch a Pearl Harbor movie (not Tora! Tora! Tora!, because it doesn't do what I'm describing) and Toshiro Mifune or whoever is playing Yamamoto and he's basically just a guy in an office on the phone saying "Yes. Bomb them now!" in English. Nationalism gets the better of historical accuracy here, for sure. Fun fact: Mifune Toshiro played Adm. Yamamoto in four separate films.
Just a note on Fluellen, Gower, Jamy and MacMorris: archaic racial stereotypes are always funny.
We'll see how a scene entirely in French and broken English (Frenglish?) will play with the good people of White Bear Lake.
Hanging Bardolph on stage FTW!
The French love their horses. Let's just hope the French don't LOVE their horses.
Ah yes, the war debate scene...good stuff. Of course, they're debating the cause of the war AFTER they've invaded the Continent...what does Petruchio say? "Better once than never, for never too late."
St. Crispian's Day rah rah. Up on the balcony maybe? It might be interesting to have the army up on the balcony and on the stage and Henry on the grass DC, exhorting the men but the audience, too by proxy. Heh heh, supposedly the actual historical speech given by Henry was a bit more pragmatic, running more along the lines of "All these French guys are rich, so if they get captured, they'll all be ransomed and get to go home. You poor bastards are broke and will be slaughtered to the last man if we don't win this thing. Uh...on ST. CRISPIN'S DAY!!!"
The battle is, of course, a mess, with both sides breaking the "rules" of war and inventing new ones, as well. Shakespeare inflates the losses a bit; it's more like 250 English lost to 6,000 French. STILL. Those are US Army vs. the Republican Guard type numbers. Those longbows must have come with a money-back guarantee. The French were not really as eager to fight as their scene implies; they were actually waiting for even MORE men to arrive and so the battle didn't start until 3 or so hours after dawn, with an opening volley by English bowmen. Our fights at S&C, whether cavalier, old Scottish, Edwardian, whatever, always feature two to four guys wailing on each other with longswords. It would be cool if we could capture the total quagmire the battle turned into...mud, blood, guys hatcheting each other and knights drowning in their own armor. I'm sure the mud will be vetoed by the costumer, but I'd like this one to be pretty vicious.
And the last scene, which is really cute if you can ignore that this chick is basically being auctioned off to a foreign conqueror so she can crank out a few future kings. Ah, love.
Well, more to come once we start blocking!
"Is it gone? Did I get it all?
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