Did I mention that I don't like heritage productions? I hate lutes and trumpets, I hate doublets and I hate the idea of cramming my beloved Sheakespeare plays into a gimmicky olde worlde straightjacket.
That said, I do love The Globe. Their Globe to Globe festival was one of the highlights of my whole life... so I shall continue to take it seriously and not just write the theatre off as simply being a kitsch tourist trap... yet.
Best thing about the play?
Worst thing about the play?
Brendan O’Hea’s Fluellen was played not as a tough, noble warrior (as per Propeller and Theatre Delicatessen) but as a slightly distasteful 'stupid taffy' - the sort of portrayal which I think should have been abandoned long ago.
Other things worthy of note.
Whilst this production was about as enjoyable as eating dried vomit, I would still rate it higher then the Tim Carroll/Mark Rylance affront to humanity known as Richard III.
The reason is a fickle and flighty... it is purely because I like and respect director Dominic Dromgoole. He brought the world Globe to Globe - which I consider to be probably the greatest arts event since the Renascence (this is not a joke, I'm being serious) and secondly his speech before HaBima's Merchant of Venice was one of the most dignified and measured things I have ever heard come from anyone on a stage.
As for Mark Rylance, well I hate him for he made a Richard III into a shambolic fool but I hate him more for that he is an anti-Stratfordian.
Henry V is running at The Globe until 26/8/2011
That said, I do love The Globe. Their Globe to Globe festival was one of the highlights of my whole life... so I shall continue to take it seriously and not just write the theatre off as simply being a kitsch tourist trap... yet.
Anyway... Time to stop complaining about The Globe and start complaining about Henry V @ The Globe...
God, I hated this production. I mean REALLY HATED THIS PRODUCTION.
To be fair, it must be said that if I hadn't seen two brilliant renditions of the same play within twice two months then I probably would have at least found the resolve to stay to the end. As it was, I had to flee the theatre half way through the second abominable act.
What was so bad about this play? Quite simply it was DRY. Not just beef jerky dry, not just Walkers Crisps dry but drier that an oven-baked bucket of sand sprinkled into a sea of silica gel. With the exception of the irritating tennis racket noises that Jamie Parker (Henry) insisted on making after receiving the period Elizabethan style tennis balls (bleh!) this was essentially a secondary school read-through, devoid of any kind of creative spark, any kind of freshness or any kind of dialogue with the text.
For me, the play had only one exciting moment (and I use the word exciting in the 'broadest way imarginable') and that was when two wooden pendulums dropped from the upper gallows to release smoke... A naff and boring special effect but at least it was a happening of sorts.
Best thing about the play?
I already mentioned the smoke pendulums. I suppose the second best moment was the Princess Catherine English lesson... but even that was intolerably dull compared to Propeller's brilliant bathtub scene or
Theatre Delicatessen's excellent 'English lesson in a helicopter'.
Worst thing about the play?
Brendan O’Hea’s Fluellen was played not as a tough, noble warrior (as per Propeller and Theatre Delicatessen) but as a slightly distasteful 'stupid taffy' - the sort of portrayal which I think should have been abandoned long ago.
Other things worthy of note.
Whilst this production was about as enjoyable as eating dried vomit, I would still rate it higher then the Tim Carroll/Mark Rylance affront to humanity known as Richard III.
The reason is a fickle and flighty... it is purely because I like and respect director Dominic Dromgoole. He brought the world Globe to Globe - which I consider to be probably the greatest arts event since the Renascence (this is not a joke, I'm being serious) and secondly his speech before HaBima's Merchant of Venice was one of the most dignified and measured things I have ever heard come from anyone on a stage.
As for Mark Rylance, well I hate him for he made a Richard III into a shambolic fool but I hate him more for that he is an anti-Stratfordian.
Henry V is running at The Globe until 26/8/2011
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