Shakespeare in the open air and a British summer - the recipe for a fine and relaxing night out. The British weather does its best to compound that idea, ensuring that in the lead-up to this latest production by the Derby Shakespeare Theatre company of Henry V, everyone was watching the skies, hoping that the battlefields of France wouldn’t become a sodden quagmire.
As it happened, we happy few, armed with umbrellas and warming refreshments, witnessed yet another excellent telling of the Bard’s work.
Chris Scott has to carry the full weight of this production on his shoulders as the King intending to fight for the lands of France. He has to be astute, grand, personable and a man whom we believe people would fight for.
Scott pulls this off with ease, cutting a swathe through the performance area at Derby Grammer School. So immersed is he in the character he also sports a rather serious haircut to add to the illusion.
Under long-term Derby Shakespeare member Ian Arnot’s direction, the introduction of the warring sides is handled with simple isolation. Scott aside, Helena Franklin as Princess Katherine enchants with her learning of English, and is coyly believable in the protracted finale.
The production is punctuated with fine performances, Matthew Shepherd, Joe O’Brien, Michael Gaunt, Eddy Chambers and Jack Bamford are just some of the people who provide them and when this production heads to the Minack Theatre in Cornwall at the end of the month it will be a fine advertisement for the talent we have in Derby.
Cry God for Harry! England and St George and look forward to another hundred years of Shakespeare in the City, with the sun shining and not an umbrella in sight!
(Source: Derby Evening Telegraph)
Tags: battlefields, british weather, derby evening telegraph, derby grammar school, derby shakespeare theatre company, haircut, henry v, performance