Henry V (The Southern California Shakespeare Festival 2020 Online Production) Theatre Review

This pandemic has turned everyone’s world upside down. Everything I was looking forward to has been canceled – trips, concerts, baseball, and new productions of  Shakespeare’s plays. So how does a theatre company give us a taste of what we’ve been missing? The Southern California Shakespeare Festival uses a company of ten actors, who are all sheltering in place, to create an unusual production of Henry V, adapted and directed by Josh Machamer. The company consists of Linda Bisesti, Daniel Boudreau, Rosie Brownlow, Eric Cotti, Larry Mayorquin, Jennifer McClinton, Matthew Reidy, Robert Shields, Andrew Wilson Jr., and Natalie Wilson. I would think it would be difficult to give any kind of performance alone, without one’s fellow actors there to react to, but to do Shakespeare in this way would be particularly challenging. Yet this company does a remarkable job.

The beginning of the Chorus’ speech is presented as voice over, over an interesting series of still photos. Then each of the actors is shown turning on a light or using a candle to light himself or herself, which creates a cool vibe, and is a wonderful way of introducing the company. The Chorus then continues, and now we see him mostly in shadow, as he is backlit. As with Shakespeare’s text, this production is divided into five parts, each part announced with a title card. The first reads “Part 1: The Beginning.” Two actors of the company are sheltering in place together, and they present the first scene with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Ely, the characters briefly identified on screen when they appear. The production is presented in modern dress, and with a score. It also uses other elements outside of Shakespeare’s text, including a title card with a line from Plato, and some modern language. For example, early on, each of the actors describes King Henry The Fifth, an interesting addition, giving the production a modern documentary style. They not only describe the king of the action of this play, but also his youth, giving some information from the two parts of King Henry The Fourth.

Henry V in this production is played by a woman, Jennifer McClinton, and in her first scene, she speaks with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the French ambassador by phone, so we see only her and hear the others. Jennifer McClinton is quite good here, particularly when asking Canterbury if she has the right to make the claim. She asks the question, then steps back, pacing a moment while listening to the response. She then gets back to the French ambassador, who has been on hold, a nice touch. It is surprising how well this actually works. Jennifer McClinton gives us a fairly serious Henry V, possibly in part because a lot of the playfulness is cut. For example, the bit with the tennis balls is gone.

Also cut are Bardolph, Pistol and Nym, and the second act, or part, begins with Exeter (Matthew Reidy) presenting a message for the King of France. He delivers the message straight to the camera, and so we in essence become France’s king. I particularly like his delivery of “Or else what follows? Bloody constraint.” Interestingly, in the text, it is the King who asks, “Or else what follows,” and then Exeter answers “Bloody constraint.” Then, during Charles VI’s speech, there are some added modern lines in response. The scene with Cambridge, Scroop and Grey is handled really well. The three conspirators and Henry V are all shown on screen at the same time, each in a quadrant, making it seem like an online conference call, with Henry coming in last after the other three are present. For why should a king wait for his subjects? It’s great seeing all three conspirators facing us as if we are Henry, while at the same time we see Henry looking at us as if we are the conspirators. In the theatre, we don’t usually get to see all their expressions simultaneously. Cambridge, Scroop and Grey are really good here, especially in that moment when they learn their plans have been discovered. This scene is particularly effective.

The third part is labeled “War,” and the progress of Henry’s army is shown on a map, again in a documentary style. The “Once more unto the breach” speech is done as voice over, a message with some static, and the first line is repeated at the end. The English lesson scene with Katherine (Rosie Brownlow) and Alice is done in wonderful way, with Katherine in bed, talking to an Alexa Echo-type device. So the Alexa is Alice (a nice coincidence that the names are so close), helping Katherine to learn English. This makes Alice’s line about it being very difficult even funnier. This scene is absolutely adorable. This production also provides some interesting reaction shots of Charles VI after a French town has surrendered to Henry V, and that leads to the actors giving us information on Charles VI the same way they gave us information on Henry V earlier. The information focuses on Charles’ psychological troubles, and this is a fun sequence.

The fourth part is “Agincourt,” and begins with a speech that Henry delivers in Act III in the text: “We give express charge that in our marches through the country there be nothing compelled from the villages, nothing taken but paid for.” This speech, combined with another from slightly later in Act III, is delivered as voice over while Henry V paces on a rooftop at night before the battle. We then go to the two camps, first that of the French soldiers. Interestingly, certain lines are stressed through repetition, showing that soldiers are all feeling the same things. Lines such as “There’s not enough work for all our hands” and “If the English had any apprehension they would run away.” This footage was shot outside at night. In the English camp, certain lines are likewise given focus, such as “We see yonder the beginning of the day, but I think we shall never see the end of it.” This sequence is particularly powerful. As for Henry V, she has a speech prepared, on paper, but sets it aside. The speech, the “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers” speech is done as voice over, and the images presented during it are recent shots of people marching, which is an interesting choice. The actual battle, of course, is not shown. Instead, we get some historical perspective, as in a documentary.

For the fifth part, titled “The Arrangement,” the meeting of Henry and Katherine is done as split screen, with the two facing each other rather than facing out to us. That is the only part of Act V that is presented in this production. Then we return to the Chorus for his final speech, and we see each of the actors extinguishing his or her light. Sure, it is not the same as seeing a live production, but this company delivers something special here, something for us in this crazy time, giving us a little touch of Harry in the pandemic. The production is just under an hour in length, and is available to view on YouTube.