As part of the Bristol Shakespeare Festival, the Fleullen Theatre Company of Swansea delivered a crackling presentation of the heroic, some would say lucky, King Hal and his glorious but unexpected victory at Agincourt.

At the heart of the performance was the excellent Brendan Purcell who gave us a Henry full of bravado, a man of wit and mischief, an intelligent and sentient individual sometimes wracked with private fears, sometimes ruthlessly cruel. He was supported throughout by an excellent cast.

Christopher Pegler-Lambert imbued his Captain Fluellen with Welsh pride, which boiled over nicely when forcing the English soldier Pistol (Scott Anthony) to eat his leek. There were some delightful quieter scenes involving Elena Carys Thomas as the French Princess Katherine and her Lady-in-waiting Alice (Katherine Weare), teaching her young mistress English. Alison Lenihan brought considerable gravitas to the role of Montjoy, the French herald, while Claire Novelli and Rob Stradling were both convincing as the French Queen and King, quietly resigned to their fates and their daughter’s future. Rowan Walters seethed with indignation as the deposed Dauphin, while Simon Peter Ancellon’s Archbishop of Canterbury very wittily delivered his confirmation of Henry’s legitimacy to the throne in a hilarious tongue-twisting monologue reminiscent of ‘I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General’ from the Pirates of Penzance.

Acting across the width of the long room of Ashton Court mansion, a property owned by the Smyth family at the time Shakespeare was writing this play, the acoustics presented a challenge to the actors who had to cope with a considerable echo in the space. But Greg Bomboffrie’s lighting helped to focus down on the action and Will Davies’ sound, particularly his battle effects built considerable tension. Simple orange crates were the sole stage props. There seemed little need for anything else.

Henry V is a quintessentially triumphal, nationalistic story, one in which the doughty underdog English king shows the French a thing or two. And while it is King Hal’s rousing calls to arms that provide the memorable soundbites, it is in the asides that Shakespeare most succeeds in touching the common human nerve.  Victory in war might get the best headlines, but the play doesn’t shirk from its realities – mass executions, rape and pillage, fear of injury and death, are all side products of this monarch’s ambition.

The company really deserved much better than the small audience that had found its way to this beautiful setting on the edge of the city.   ★★★★☆ Simon Bishop    5^th July 2019

Click here to return to the main Festival page