22 – 24 June

“Once more unto the breach” : another of William Shakespeare’s plays has been adapted and modernised, this time in 1980s New York. King Henry, formally Prince Hal, is the head of a New York gang, desperate to prove himself as a strong and respected leader. In order to do so Henry prepares his men to take over a rival gang whose money is made in the meat trade, or rather ‘the French’.

Bristol Old Vic Theatre School has produced a different yet strikingly loyal re-telling of Shakespeare’s ninth history play Henry V. The world director Gemma Fairlie creates is certainly a unique way of depicting the English and the French in their preparations for the Battle of Agincourt. The English court is dressed in double breasted suits and oil-slicked hairstyles, whereas the French court is dressed in leather, latex, white ruffled shirts and fishnet stockings, nursing an on-going cocaine addiction. The Dauphin resembled a beautifully camp, eighteenth-century dandy wearing platform boots, while the Battle of Agincourt is fought with crowbars, metal pipes and handguns to a soundtrack you would expect in a Belgium nightclub.  

However, there is still a great sense of loyalty to the text throughout the performance. It is reassuring to see contemporary adaptations of Shakespeare that preserve the original language instead of also modernising the script. The company remained loyal to Henry V’s script, so much so that, despite the play being set in New York we heard a diverse array of accents, from the heavily Welsh Captain Fluellen, the Scottish and Irish Captains, the outrageous French, as well as the English with American accents.  

With any adaptation there is often a requirement for the audience to suspend their disbelief and accept the changes to the story we are familiar with. In this case, it was initially disorienting to hear American accents spoken by the English characters, especially alongside the French gang whose accents matched their characters’ nationalities. However, this was soon forgotten due to the company’s impressive ability to switch between accents skilfully and seamlessly. 

Anyone familiar with Henry V might wonder whether or not Act Three scene four will be spoken in French like the original script or even appear at all. It was a delight to see the scene performed in perfect French, and so well. To convey the meaning of a conversation spoken in a language the audience might not be familiar with is hard, but in this case the actors accurately conveyed the meaning and acquired laughs and well-deserved praise from the audience.  

The company certainly did not neglect the humour written into Henry V. Despite it being a relatively serious history play Shakespeare injected humour and spirit in his story and that was well used by the Old Vic Theatre School. Their re-telling was genuinely funny, but most importantly preserved the meaning of the original text though seen through a more modern and particularly camp lens. As with anything produced from BOVTS, this is a slick, professional and highly entertaining performance of Henry V.

★★★★☆ Scarlett Loveless, 23 June 2023

Photo credit: Craig Fuller