19 June – 2 August
Insane Root Theatre company’s motto ‘Stories you know in places you don’t’ is an appropriate one. Previous venues have included Eastville Park’s old swimming pool, Arnos Vale cemetery and even deep within the Suspension Bridge vaults.
The choice to stage Henry V in the shell of Temple Church, gutted by the blitz in November 1940, embodies the derring-do message and determination to overcome adversity. Staging makes the most of the grounds of the medieval church, with a rampart in the centre dividing both sides upon which battles rage, and the human condition is examined. The original rotunda of the Templar church forms a ring barrier within which most scenes take place, but entrances can come from every angle and one of the joys of the production is that action can spring from anywhere.
An all female and non-binary company play fast, but not loose, with Shakespeare’s text. Adapted by Natalie Simone and Craig Fuller along with the company, and with music by Ellian Showering the show weighs in at almost two hours with no interval. Being an outdoors venue audiences are advised to dress accordingly, and on review night there was heavy drama in the drizzle.
Apart from Charlotte East as the boy turned man Henry and Alice Barclay as chorus, five other actors take on all the other parts, morphing at a heartbeat from comic, near Monty Pythonesque French knights to steadfast English soldiers.
East bridles at the intended slur on Henry’s dissolute past with the present sent by the French King of a box of tennis balls. She sends them flying back with a racket that soon turns into a sword. It is clear that this King has developed a steeliness so far not seen by erstwhile chums Nym, Pistol and Bardolph. Red and black balls remain on the field of play, forming an ongoing means of determining the body count.
Siobhan Bevan as the King of France (and leek loving Fluellen among other parts) is superb at bringing the ample humour on offer to the surface. As a ridiculously stereotypically Frenchman she sports shades and smokes a Gauloises cigarette with mocking insouciance. Serge Gainsbourg had nothing on this king.
Esmee Cook, Meg Lewis, Fowzia Madar and Anabella O’Gorman are each skilful in their various guises, mixing ribald phallic waving jests with slow motion battle scenes and episodes of grit and gore.
The atmosphere heightened as the evening wore on, the light faded and the rain became more persistent, but forensic analysis of Henry’s strategy emerged in greater clarity. Provided with ponchos handed out between the downpours, no one was going to leave until this play was done. Director Natalie Simone, and directors of movement (Karla Shacklock) and Fights (Annie Mackenzie) have each done a fabulous job, but so have the entire company and stage management, sound, and lighting are top notch.
Insane Root continues to bring classics to life in amazing places. Their storytelling is vibrant, exciting and, like Henry himself, shows what you can do with a great company full of talent and resolve.
★★★★★ Bryan J Mason, 27 June 2025
Photography credit: Craig Fuller
