Hotspur, Falstaff and Harry England

by William Shakespeare

seen at Shakespeare's Globe on 10 May 2019

The more conventionally named Henry IV Part One, Henry IV Part Two and Henry V have been given alternative titles as a series of 'state-of-the-nation' plays which can be seen independently or, given sufficient stamina, together as today on a 'trilogy day'. The two parts of Henry IV take their alternative titles from characters considered important enough to be named in the expended titles of the original Quarto editions, while the third title reminds us of the intimate connections of Henry V with mythologised ideas about kingship and English greatness as exemplified by this particular warrior king, prompted by his father's advice to distract unhappy citizens from civil unrest by embarking on foreign wars.

The plays, directed by Sarah Bedi and Federay Holmes, are presented by a company of ten actors - five women and five men - joined by Michelle Terry as Hotspur in the first play of the sequence. Sarah Amankwah plays Prince Hal, later King Henry V, in all plays, and takes only one very small doubling part in Falstaff; the others take on all the other roles. In the full texts there are over one hundred parts across all three plays, though there are some cuts in the performance, and given the fluid performance style at the Globe, the changes of role are often signalled by the mere donning of a new cloak and a different posture, sometimes in full view of the audience. During the whole day this rarely led to any confusion from my point of view as a spectator, and only once did an actor definitely address a nobleman by the wrong name in a series of greetings. 

As You Like It

by William Shakespeare

seen at Shakespeare's Globe on 30 May 2018

Federay Holmes and Elle While direct Jack Laskey as Rosalind, Bettrys Jones as Orlando, Nadia Nadarajah as Celia, Pearce Quigley as Jacques and Helen Schlesinger as both Duke Senior and Duke Frederick, with support from others in the company, in this new production paired with Hamlet (reviewed earlier this month). As in Hamlet the casting is 'gender-blind' with some very interesting and amusing results. In particular, though a number of male Rosalinds have been seen since Adrian Lester's beguiling performance in the 1990s, it is unusual to have a female Orlando. In fact, Jack Laskey himself took the part in the Globe's 2009 production opposite Naomi Frederick's Rosalind.

Hamlet

by William Shakespeare

seen at Shakespeare's Globe on 15 May 2018

Another Hamlet - could this be possible after two visits to the excellent Almeida production last year? Fortunately the play is almost inexhaustible, and even though this is the third production I have seen performed at Shakespeare's Globe, I agreed to the suggestion of some friends visiting from Australia who wanted to see it and to experience this special theatre.

Federay Holmes and Elle While are directing a company performing both Hamlet and As You Like It concurrently, aware that they are two plays newly written for the original Globe within a year of each other. There is considerable 'gender-blind' casting, in this case with Hamlet, Horatio and Laertes played by women - Michelle Terry, Catrin Aaron and Bettrys Jones respectively - and (perhaps more unusually) Ophelia played by a man - Shubham Saraf, who also takes the small part of Osric. Claudius (James Garnon), Gertrude (Helen Schlesinger), Polonius (Richard Katz) and other parts are more predictably cast, though interestingly Guildenstern (Nadia Nadarajah) signs in BSL while Rosencrantz (Pearce Quigley) takes on all the speaking lines of the pair, signing to his friend to clear up the no doubt fumbling attempts of the Danish courtiers to sign for themselves.

Coriolanus

by William Shakespeare

filmed live performance from the Donmar Warehouse seen on 24 September 2015

This production from the Donmar's 2014 season was directed by Josie Rourke and designed by Lucy Osborne. It starred Tom Hiddleston as Coriolanus, Deborah Findlay as Volumnia, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen as Virgilia, Mark Gatiss as Menenius, Hadley Fraser as Aufidius. Elliot Levey as the tribune Brutus and Helen Schlesinger as the (feminised) tribune Sicinia.

The Donamr stage was stripped back to its bare back wall, painted red to chest height with various graffiti painted or projected onto it to emphasise the political background to much of the action. A single ladder stretched upwards, used in the siege of Corioli; chairs were brought from the back when needed, or otherwise left unobtrusively for actors to sit on when they were not needed for certain scenes. The outline of a rectangle was painted in red by Coriolanus's son at the beginning, and was used to indicate the confines of a house when required; later a small black square was painted within it, used to constrain Coriolanus himself when he is put on trial for treason. All in all, the atmosphere was oppressive and threatening, an apt background for both the political demagoguery and the military struggles depicted in the play.

Tom Hiddleston gave us a strong self-assured Coriolanus whose fatal aristocratic arrogance emanates precisely from his upbringing and his own personal success as a military leader. What seems straightforward to a military man - plain speech, impatience with uncongenial tradition and undisciplined civilians - is soon shown to be disastrous political ineptitude. Anger and rage cause him to turn on Rome and it is only at the last moment, when he capitulates to his mother's entreaties, that he seems truly aware of the trap into which he has fallen. The charismatic leadership, the mood swings, the fraught mother/son relationship, were all brilliantly portrayed, with powerful verse speaking and a great stage presence.

Surrounding him were an excellent cast - the tribunes baiting him with self-satisfied smirks, the soldiers enthusiastic and the plebeians wanting to be so, but frustrated when Coriolanus fails to play to their expectations, his wife and friends distraught by the turn of events, and his mother implacable at first in her almost cloying support, and at last in her crucial appeal to dissuade him from revenge. Deborah Findlay showed us in Volumnia where Coriolanus learnt his sense of superiority and entitlement, and also where he met his match in stubbornness; their confrontations were always fascinating to watch.