adapted from William Shakespeare
seen at the Barbican on 29 April 2016
Bart Van Den Eynde and Peter van Kraaij have fashioned a long (4.5 hour) play from Henry V, the three parts of Henry VI (mainly parts 2 and 3), and Richard III. Ivan van Hove directs members of the Toneelgroep Amsterdam; the production is in Dutch with English surtitles.
The undertaking is ambitious and really striking; it is especially fascinating to have familiar speeches adapted and spoken in a foreign language. The setting was modern - for the scenes relating to Henry V, there were computer screens with military displays, and large maps to chart the progress of the French campaign; in effect we were in a modern military headquarters. Later we were in a sort of public reception room (for the reign of Edward IV) and finally in an empty but somehow rather claustrophobic space (yet still the whole expanse of the Barbican stage) for Richard III. Video cameras, both positioned around the stage, and a hand-held camera wielded by a technician, were liberally used with the image projected on a large screen suspended above the back wall of the set. This allowed the se of a number of corridors backstage, where various confrontations and deahs occurred.
