The Histories
Royal Shakespeare Company
Henry VI
Parts I, II and III
Chuk Iwuiji as Henry VI
Photo by Ellie Kurttz - Copyright RSC
by William Shakespeare
Roundhouse
(in repertoire)
1 April – 25 May 2008
 ary Couzens
A review by Mary Couzens for EXTRA! EXTRA!
A sense of occasion greeted our arrival at the Roundhouse on Tuesday, May 6th, and small wonder – we were there to witness the RSC’s much acclaimed three play spectacle Henry VI. Staying for the duration, with the Part I beginning at 10:30 am, would mean remaining, more or less in place, at the Roundhouse for over twelve hours. Fortunately, these three high calibre productions, each involving the same versatile, well-rounded group of thoroughly consummate, as well as talented young actors, offer their audiences Shakespearean experiences of such great clarity and presence, that this riveting trilogy marks itself in the memory as one of the most definitive theatrical events ever!
Henry VI, Parts I, II and III represent some of Shakespeare’s earliest attempts at writing History plays. They reek of vigour and villainy in equal measures, with generous dollops of superstition and religious and political insight and sometimes, even propaganda, perhaps, in the name of timely censorship and/or head-saving diplomacy. For someone who was forced to work within such potentially strict confines, Shakespeare wrote with a very broad scope indeed, for, as is so often the case with his work, the beliefs and scenarios portrayed in Henry VI have much in common with contemporary systems and desires.
Part I – The War against France
Katy Stephens (Joan La Pucelle) in HENRY VI PART ONE
Photo by Ellie Kurttz - Copyright RSC
Part one of this saga detailing the implosion of the fifteenth century British Empire begins with a coffin hanging in mid air above the stage. The smell of incense and the solemn clanging of church bells accompany the interment of noble King Henry V, as the Bishop of Winchester performs the sacred rites. Amongst those attending the funeral is the Duke of Gloucester, the uncle and official Lord Protector of then nine month old King Henry VI. In France, Joan of Arc will soon find it easy to seduce Charles, the Dauphin with her beauty and extreme valour in battle. The pot of dissention is soon to reach the boiling point in a world of opposing opposites: England versus France, Catholic versus Protestant, male versus female, and, on the home front, the House of Lancaster versus the House of York. Following Joan’s capture, she is burned at the stake, and an uneasy truce is called between England and France. The Earl of Suffolk convinces Henry to take Margaret, his own clandestine lover as his Queen.
Queen Margaret (Katy Stephens), York (Clive Wood), Henry VI (Chuk Iwuiji
Photo by Ellie Kurttz - Copyright RSC
Part II – England’s Fall
The truce between England and France has not yet been cemented before in-fighting at home threatens to dislodge it. A plot is hatched among the nobles to remove Henry’s Lord Protector, Gloucester. His wife Eleanor is tried and banished for consulting a witch. Suffolk gains influence in the English court via his sway over Queen Margaret. English territories in France are lost and Gloucester is blamed by his enemies. He is subsequently murdered and his old rival the Cardinal becomes the plotters’ next victim, as does Suffolk, who has initially been turned upon by the king and banished. Meanwhile, the Duke of York incites a commoner’s rebellion, originating in Kent, led by Jack Cade, which is eventually quashed after the rebels storm the capitol. York continues to pursue the crown and the two houses battle at St. Alban’s. The King and Queen flee as the Yorkists claim the crown.
John Cade (John Mackay) (above) and fellow rebels
Photo by Ellie Kurttz - Copyright RSC
Part III – The Chaos
Having won the battle, and reclaimed the throne for Richard Plantagenet (Duke of York) the Yorkists face the Lancastrians with their list of demands. Henry agrees, without delay to disinherit his son, much to the fury of his Queen, Margaret, who raises an army in retaliation. Henry is placed in the Tower by the Duke of York who is subsequently captured and tortured with the details of his youngest son Rutland’s murder before he is murdered himself. The Earl of Warwick frees Henry from the Tower, reinstating him as King. When Warwick leaves London to rouse his army, Edward recaptures Henry and murders Warwick on his return. After Margaret returns to England from exile with an army, they battle Edwards’ men at Tewkesbury for the final time, after which it seems that the War of the Roses may at last, be coming to an end.
James Tucker (George Clarance, Forbes Masson (Edward), Joanathan Slinger (Richard Gloucester)
Photo by Ellie Kurttz - Copyright RSC
The Players
The Bishop of Winchester, of the House of York, who, from a prolonged sense of wrongdoing (King Henry IV 1399-1413 had diverted the throne to the House of Lancaster), frequently incites verbal sparring matches with the Duke of Gloucester (of the opposing House), whom he perceives to be his arch rival. Winchester is played with convincingly red faced venom by Geoffrey Freshwater. Richard Cordery counters the Bishop’s force with an equally fierce, yet much more sympathetic characterisation in Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, who is seated at the proverbial right hand of Henry VI. The young, impressionable, seemingly gullible monarch is played with touching vulnerability by Chuk Iwuji, who was equally credible as a fearsome warrior some years ago in a Samurai inspired production of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus at the Old Vic. Though Henry is not yet a strong presence in the story in Part I through the course of the trilogy, Iwuji goes on to infuse his role with the inner strength and sense of leadership by example, rather than force, which is so crucial to balance his character’s almost blind faith and compassion. Henry’s strength of heart makes his eventual demise, at the already bloodied hands of the future King, Richard III all the more jarring. Katy Stephens turns in a powerful, swash-buckling performance as a fifteenth century Protestant representation of ‘Saint’ Joan of Arc, as well as, later on in this play and the other two, Margaret of Anjou, Henry’s Queen and future mother of his heir. As Joan, Stephens is all fire and brilliance, flashing her sword fearlessly in the face of nearly insurmountable odds and eventual defeat. Her character’s sword-fight with her English enemy, legendary Lord Talbot, played with fine fettle by Keith Bartlett, is one of the physical high points of this trilogy, and, of any Shakespeare that this reviewer has ever witnessed! It is in moments like those personified by Stephens’ Joan that one catches potential glimpses of the original inspiration for many a female adventurer/heroine both literary and cinematic, George Lucas’ battling Princess Leah of the original Star Wars trilogy most probably, among them. Stephens is also wickedly fearsome as Margaret, the Queen procured for Henry VI by her power hungry lover, the Earl of Suffolk, William De La Pole, played with restrained fifteenth century panache and dubious charm by Geoffrey Streatfeild. Stephens, as Margaret, moves through the trilogy’s story like a web-weaving spider in her train trailing gowns of deepest red and dusky black. Richard Plantagenet (Later Duke of York), who would have been King in Henry’s place, were the throne not usurped, treads rather too heavily for his own safety in the capable shoes of Clive Wood, a seasoned actor who has flavoured many a characterisation we’ve watched him don over the years. As the tables turn on Richard of York, as they do on so many of Henry VI’s formerly champion characters, his moments of tragedy are so heartfelt they become impossible to witness without a sense of empathy. The ever versatile John McKay who plays a preening, prancing Charles, the Dauphin, among his colourful, rather ineffectual cohorts, demonstrates the general manly-less the English bestowed on the French whom they may have dubbed at the time a bunch of sissies - another neat bit of fifteenth century propaganda. Conversely, Patrice Naiambana, who plays the Earl of Warwick, is so heroic and manly that he fights with two swords! In this sublimely dedicated company of players, it is very difficult to single specific performances out, but nevertheless Lex Shrapnel is a stand out as ernest John Talbot, son of Joan of Arc’s arch enemy, Lord Talbot, played with battle honed verve by the aforementioned Keith Bartlett. The father and son scenes between the two actors are highly emotive and their mutual appearances as a pair of world-weary, observing spectres after their mortal scenes have been played out are truly haunting. Bartlett’s silent assumption of the role of ferryman to the River Styx has been designed to invade your darkest dreams.
In Part II, Gloucester’s increasingly desperate wife, Eleanor Cobham, who is put on trial and banished for consulting a witch about her future is played with a redeeming lack of regret by Maureen Beattie. This play also marks the appearance of Richard Plantagenet, now Duke of York’s three sons: Edward, heir to his father’s sought after throne, played with conviction by Forbes Masson, George, genteelly rendered by James Tucker and last, but certainly not least memorable, Jonathan Slinger as Richard, future King Richard III. John Mackay, so glibly gallant and comically agile as Charles, the Dauphin in Part I, now assumes the role of rebel rousers delight Jack Cade, leader of an ungainly commoner’s rebellion from Kent to London, with a sense of reckless abandon signified by his multiple high leaps across the stage. Mackay’s portrayal of Cade, which paints the rebel as being a little mad, gives pause to reflect upon the saneness of the motivations of the other, more upper class, gentlemen ‘leaders’ in the trilogy. The whole company takes part in the carnival like uprising segment, which offers welcome comic relief amid all the bloodshed. Part II contains much prose, as opposed to verse text, as the commoners loosely spout forth in their own version of the King’s and Shakespeare’s English.
Part III heightens both the sense of drama and impending doom, though Ann Ogbomo as Edward’s wife, Lady Elizabeth Grey seems, at this point to be above the law of averages, momentarily entrusting her husband’s quirky, clowning brother Richard (soon to be III) with the care of her infant child. The Duke of York’s unsuspecting young son, Rutland, who is soon to be cut down in his childhood, is played with surprising effectiveness by Alexia Healey whose lovely voice, along with that of Ogbomo and Hannah Barrie combine to add emphasis to pivotal moments of all three plays at times in which they do not otherwise play a role, contributing greatly as audible angelic presences alongside of two of the four female characters, Joan of Arc and Lady Elizabeth Grey. Richard Cordery who had portrayed the doomed Duke of Gloucester so well, returns briefly in the role of King Louis XI of France.
Queen Margaret (Katy Stephens) & cast
Photo by Ellie Kurttz - Copyright RSC
Every attention is paid to detail in this searing trilogy, with musicians generating both original, incidental music composed by James Jones and John Woolf alternately blended with, or standing apart from Sound designed by Andrea J. Cox which, which in various combinations heightens drama. The musicians also create ‘live’ sound effects from their shadowy performance space near the set’s turreted top in the form of tinkling cymbals and/or crashing drums to synch with the trilogy’s moments of enchantment or rage, often manifested via the heavily slamming doors of Tom Piper’s magnificently unobtrusive, amazingly versatile set. Piper’s set, which works fantastically well for all three plays is a marvel with its curved, rusting metal doors, balcony and spiral staircase intermittently visible inside its turret topped housing. Its aged looking doors are thrust open to permit armies to run into battle amid billowing clouds of smoke, only to have their opponents appear on ‘the other side’ in a seamless swapping of places, in order to allow us to see and hear their victims, as they access the effects of the attack waged upon them. Sweeping ensemble scenes are enacted with a sense of urgency that makes them seem as though they are unravelling in real time, rather than being played out as planned. Costumes, courtesy of Emma Williams and Laura McLaughlin are not only, often beautiful to behold, but also notable for their painterly colours and pastiche period details. Movement director Liz Ranken has done a fine job of capturing the feel of situations via the cast’s physicality – brief, slowly executed battle scenes continue to play themselves out in the mind long after the trilogy has drawn to its chilling conclusion. Fight director Terry King has also done a commendable job with his formidable tasks. Lighting, by Heather Carson lends atmosphere, but such is its appropriateness that all thought of it rightfully evaporates in the moment. But the highest tributes of all are due to Director Michael Boyd, whose imaginative energy and vision has propelled this soaring production onto the stage and in the process, enhanced our theatrical memory banks to the point of bursting!
Conclusion
This trilogy, which has been the life’s work of all involved in it for well over two years, does not offer its audiences a watered-down Shakespeare designed to appeal to the faint of heart, nor does it suggest the text or its scenarios should be contemporised for our comprehension. For, during the length of its all too brief (even at 10 hours plus) span its unique blending of alternately sharp and faded sense of history/memory generate a sort of hyper-realism which enables its viewers to relocate themselves, via the unwitting willingness of their imaginations, into the Bard’s timeframe and frame of mind, like no other production of its ilk that either I, or many of those excitedly discussing it afterwards had ever encountered. As such, we felt privileged and humbled to have been a part of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s epic theatrical trilogy Henry VI at London’s Roundhouse, as it truly serves as a glowing, definitive example of the uncompromising, timeless art of William Shakespeare.
Box Office: 0870 389 1846
www.roundhouse.org.uk
Henry VI Part I
Sat 19th Apr 2008 - Sat 24th May 2008
Henry VI Part II
Tue 22nd Apr 2008 - Sat 24th May 2008
Henry VI Part III
Thu 24th Apr 2008 - Sat 24th May 2008
www.rsc.org.uk
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