Directed by David Muse, folio text by Abby Jackson
“Before working on it, I had always thought that this play was a rah-rah, pro-Henry, pro-England, pro-war play. I also thought that it was a story about a former wastrel who had reformed himself completely and then marched his way through a play, being a terrific leader and saying all the right things. But as I got to know the play better, I realized that it portrays a Henry and a war that are much more complicated and interesting than they first seem. The play is full of incredibly provocative moments for a leader: Henry has to deal with committing his country to go to war, and then he has to deal with the betrayal of one of his best friends. He has to execute a beloved old companion in the middle of a war in order to send the right message to the rest of his troops. Then he has to deal with the carnage of war and what it means to be on a battlefield full of dead men. And so I began to find the kernel of a really interesting psychological story, especially if the distance between how this man acts publicly and how he feels privately is vast; if this is a man who in public is inspiring, direct, sure of himself and sure of what his country needs to be doing, and then in private is uncertain about the wisdom of the war, exhausted, lonely, anxious and torn apart by the things he must do. But so much of the Henry we see in the play is the politician, the public figure. What we get of the private man comes mostly in a big speech in the fourth act. We’ve been watching this king deal with crisis after crisis and move on in what seems to be a pretty untroubled fashion, and then all of a sudden we see him explode with self doubt. It’s an eruption of internality, of self examination—it’s almost as if Hamlet or Brutus walks onstage in the middle of Henry V and delivers a monologue. It’s amazing, but for me it was a little frustrating that it happens so late in the play. So in this production we’re going to try to find ways to spend moments alone with Henry, to <go into his head> at critical moments, and then return to the play to watch the acts he needs to perform in order to behave like the good king that he knows he needs to be. The speech by the soldier called Williams that prompts Henry’s self reflection is morally one of the most challenging moments for the king and for the audience to negotiate. Its theme is, <How much responsibility for the death of men in war should lie on the leaders who sent them there?>. That speech really cuts Henry to the quick, and it sends him into a forceful description of how <uneasy lies the head that wears a crown>. It is in a way a summation of a major theme that’s going on in all of Shakespeare’s history plays, which is, <How does one manage to be a human being and a king at the same time?>. That speech, for me, encapsulates how painful it must be to maintain your humanity while doing the things that are expected of you as the leader of your country.” Muse
HISTORICAL EXPLOITATION OF ARTS’ LONELY SUPREMACY
“1599: Henry V was originally performed at the Globe Theatre in London, just after it was built. Elizabethan theater-goers easily related to the patriotic themes of the play, as explorers like Sir Francis Drake were establishing an English presence in Europe and the New World, pushing the country to the forefront of global political power.
1744: This production took place during King George’s War, in which England and France once again drew their swords against each other.
1944: Laurence Olivier’s famous film version of Henry V emphasized the positive power of a national hero, debuting at the close of World War II when the English were desperate for encouragement.
1964: The Royal Shakespeare Company focused on the darker aspects of Henry V in this Vietnam War-era production, which included a group of soldiers more weary of war than elated with patriotism.”
O CORO
“Although we tend to focus on Shakespearean comedies and tragedies, Shakespeare also wrote a handful of plays that bring significant events in English history to life. This type of play, originally called a <chronicle play> and now referred to as a <history play>, was essentially invented by Shakespeare and quickly became popular in Elizabethan England. While Shakespeare based these plays on real historical events and people, he made them theatrically interesting by condensing and simplifying events, taking liberties with chronology and altering characters’ actions and ages to tell a compelling story. (…)
Plagiarism (claiming someone else’s work as one’s own) was not illegal in Elizabethan England and Shakespeare freely used the works of other authors and historians for inspiration and to supplement his own writing. For Henry V, Shakespeare borrowed from several works, including Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1577) and an anonymous play called The Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth (1580s). Shakespeare used these kinds of works as background research for all of his history plays in order to shape real historical events into tantalizing, stage-worthy stories about power, prestige and politics.
As one of the key history plays, Henry V is the last in a four-work series of plays (also called a tetralogy) known as the Henriad, which includes Richard II, both parts of Henry IV, and culminates in Henry V. Many of the same characters reappear in each of the four plays, creating something like a modern day mini-series that would have had audiences coming back for more. The historical through-line of all four plays is the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) between England and France. In Henry V, we see one of the great climaxes of this war as King Henry V breaks the peace by reclaiming his inheritance of the French throne, momentarily defeats the French at the Battle of Agincourt, and takes Katharine, the daughter of French King Charles VI, as his wife.”
“Shakespeare used his imagination to creatively bring to life the inner motivations and private conversations of historical figures that history books will simply never be able to capture.”
“The choral interludes throughout Henry V are famous for eloquently bridging the action on stage with the reaction of the audience. Although a chorus can serve many purposes, Shakespeare uses the chorus in Henry V mainly to prepare, engage and teach the audience.”
“At the beginning of the play, the chorus apologizes for substituting actors for kings and the theater’s <wooden O> (a reference to the shape of the newly built Globe Theatre) for famous kingdoms.”
“The chorus begins the play with an apology but ends with a reminder that princes are merely actors and each kingdom really is a stage”
REIS E BOBOS
“Nym, Bardolph, Pistol and Mistress Quickly are the key players in Henry’s motley crew, providing colorful comic relief in the midst of King Henry’s heroic but difficult journey. These characters, along with the infamous knight aristocrat Sir John Falstaff, all appear in at least one of the other plays within the series”
“Henry V was once part of this gang himself as a young, wild prince in Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, which is why the Dauphin’s <gift> of tennis balls is insulting—it implies that Henry is still the same reckless youth he once was. In responding to the Dauphin’s joke with the threat of cannon balls, however, Henry proves that he has grown up and takes his role as king seriously.”
Proposta de exercício para o aluno de Cênicas: “Henry and History: Research the real life of King Henry V and the life of one political leader from the 20th century. Write a 3-4 page paper comparing and contrasting these two leaders. Be creative and explore both personal and public information, including life events, world events, personality, political endeavors and achievements, and legacy.”
APROFUNDAMENTO
Shakespeare Dictionaries
- Schmidt, Alexander. Shakespeare Lexicon and Quotation Dictionary. Dover, 1971.
- Onion, C.T. A Shakespeare Glossary. Oxford University Press, 1986.
Fallon, Robert Thomas. A Theatregoer’s Guide to Shakespeare. Ivan M. Dee, 2001.
Hattaway, Michael (Ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare’s History Plays. Cambridge, 2002.
Seclusão Anagógica 