1. Timeline - stage & screen
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  2. Henry V

    Henry V
    by William Shakespeare


    (The Royal Shakespeare Company)


    Click on the image to enlarge in new browser window.


    REVIEWS - May 1994

    A great Henry V is born. Iain Glen makes a thrilling Stratford Début. The young director Mathew Warchus (at 27 he is the same age as Henry V at Agincourt) sees the play steadily and sees it whole. Having reminded us of modern parallels, Warchus's production (atmospherically designed by Neil Warmington) doesn't deprive us of the clanking armour and Plantagenet pageantry that are such an enjoyable part of the play. The battle scenes, with their great whooshes of real flame and deafening explosions, are every bit as exciting as they should be:Any production, however is going to stand or fall with the actor playing Henry V and Iain Glen doesn't disappoint. He is very sexy (I predict crowds of swooning schoolgirls at the stage door) but he is much more than a slab of lean beefcake. There is a sense of formidable intelligence as he delivers the verse, and he powerfully captures the king's tortured humanity. In the notorious speech at Harfleur, when Henry V threatens "fresh fair virgins" with the sword, he is clearly a decent man playing a hard-hearted, politically expedient role which he finds almost intolerable. On the eve of Agincourt, his lonely sleepless agony is reminiscent of Christ in the garden. But Glen also touchingly suggests the king's warm sense of fellowship with his men (especially in the beautifully delivered St Crispin's Day speech) and, in the lovely wooing scene at the end, this exceptional actor reveals a real flair for comedy. There are other performances to savour. Lional Haft is wonderfully funny as that absurd and garrulous Welshman, Fluellen and Clive Wood plays Pistol with roaring vigour. But this production will undoubtedly be remembered for the achievements of two young men of outstanding talent and extraordinary promise: Iain Glen and Mathew Warchus.

    The Daily Telegraph, Charles Spencer

    Iain Glen played Henry V last night and won a decisive victory. He went in at the deep end for his debut with the Royal Shakespeare company and emerged three and a half hours later looking like one of the most significant stars the troupe has recruited in a decade. His performance is a multi-faceted masterpiece, a bravura display of actorial skill that shows he has matured into a star in the very best sense of the word.

    Evening Standard, Nicholas de Jongh

    Shakespeare's Henry V is the first play about war in the English language; and the moment Mathew Warchus's new Stratford production begins, you realize that for him, as for Shakespeare, the play speaks with two voices. It speaks of the past, and to the present. Tony Britton is the Chorus, taking the stage with massive confidence: a rock-like, dignified presence in a modern military overcoat with a poppy in his buttonhole. Behind him, a medieval royal robe is displayed, surrounded by poppies on high stalks. You are, simultaneously, in the past and the present:

    Iain Glen's Henry is both prisoner and hero. His heroism, his frank, manly behaviour with his soldiers, is the conduct of a born commander, but also of the cool politician who knows that such inspiration is militarily priceless. His spontaneity is infectious; and yet there is also a deliberateness and a hard remoteness about him that confirms that he did indeed kill Falstaff's heart and is perfectly capable of ordering the necessary execution. Role by role, Glen is confirming that he is one of the finest and most sensitive actors of his generation. He can create a thrillingly convincing personality out of the most disparate psychological ingredients.

    The Sunday Times, John Peter

    Glen is constantly engaged in the progress of Henry's thought; seldom in Shakespearean acting do we find thought and word so spontaneously connected. Only while negotiating the terms of his victory after Agincourt does this King relax within his new authority; and in the glow of that relaxation he wins all hearts.

    Financial Times, Alistair Macaulay

    The stage is a hydraulic ramp emblazoned with Henry's dates, and a portal upstage through which you see blue skies and cawing crows over Agincourt. Gruesome bits of limbs in armour are suspended on chains. This production at once allows us to enjoy the vigour and pageantry of Henry V and see it in varying perspectives. It tells the story, as W B Yeats said it should be told: "Cheerfully, as one watches some handsome spirited horse" but with "tragic irony". Catch it if you possibly can.

    The Scotsman, Kate Clanchy



    AWARDS

    Evening Standard Awards:
    1. Nomination for Best Actor, Iain Glen
    The Shakespeare Globe Classic Awards:
    1. Nomination for The Richard Burton Award for most promising newcomer, Iain Glen

  3. Credits

    Iain Glen
    King Henry V

    Ewan Hooper
    Archbishop of Canterbury / Lord Grandpré/ Duke Of Burgundy

    Kevin Doyle
    Bishop of Ely/ Duke of Bourbon

    Colin Jarrett
    Duke of Gloucester / Lord Scroop

    Sean O'Callaghan
    Duke of Clarence

    David Beames
    MacMorris/ Duke of Exeter

    Ken Dudley
    Duke of York

    Gwynn Beech
    Earl of Westmoreland/ Dauphin

    Tim Griggs
    Earl of Warwick

    David Hounslow
    Bardolph/ Michael Williams

    Nigel Cooke
    Nim/ Montjoy, the Herald

    Clive Wood
    Pistol

    Joanna McCallum
    Mistress Quickly/ Alice

    Daniel Evans
    Boy

    Steven Elliot
    Earl of Cambridge/ Gower

    Anthony Naylor
    Sir Thomas Grey/ Constable of France

    Linal Haft
    Fluellen

    Liam O'Callaghan
    Sir Thomas Erpingham/ King Charles VI

    Quill Roberts
    John Bates/ Duke of Berri

    Adrian Irvine
    Alexander Court/ Duke of Orléons

    Judith Sweeney
    Queen Isabel

    Julia Crane
    French Ambassador

    Monica Dolan
    Princess Catherine

    Mathew Warchus
    Director

    Neil Warmington
    Set designer

    Kandis Cook
    Costumes designer

    Alan Burrett
    Lighting Design

    Terry King
    Fight Director

    Marc Vibrans
    Composer

    Ivan Kyncl
    Photography



    Role by role, Glen is confirming that he is one of the finest and most sensitive actors of his generation.



















































    A great Henry V is born. Iain Glen makes a thrilling Stratford Début.

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