
International Theatre Database
Category
Play
Country
United Kingdom
Run Dates
Apr 7 - May 23, 2008
Venue
Run Time
210 minutes
2008.04.07 ~ 2008.05.23
The Roundhouse
London Premiere
2007.10.24 ~ 2008.03.14
RSC
World Premiere
This production formed part of a staging of the Histories Cycle, with Michael Boyd directing 34 actors in the eight plays. Richard Twyman was Associate Director on the project, and took the lead on Henry IV Part 2. The productions played in rep over nearly two years as part of the RSC's Complete Works Festival, culminating in the Glorious Moment when audiences were able to see all eight plays over one weekend. Geoffrey Streatfeild's Henry V was boyishly vulnerable, weighed down with public responsibility. On the thrust stage, the battle sequences were spectacular - the audience were assaulted with ear-splitting explosions and clouds of smoke as the actors burst out of a central trap-door, scaling ladders across the stage and around the auditorium. In contrast to the plainly-dressed English soldiers emerging from below the stage, the French occupied the aerial space - they wore elaborate brightly-coloured costumes, draped themselves from trapezes and the audience first met Katherine as she was flown in from the roof, presented inside a picture-frame.