Review: Henry V, NT Live

NT Live is back in cinemas folks! And yes ok, it has been for a few months now, though for reasons due to availability or programming, I haven't been able to get back. 

But hey, NEVER underestimate what one of your biggest celebrity crushes playing Shakespeare can do! 

And so, with my Dad, we trudged to the Light in Bolton to watch Henry V, streamed filmed at the Donmar Warehouse, where it has recently finished its run. Starring Game of Thrones' Kit Harrington. 

Henry V is possibly Shakespeare's most famous history play - not one I know much about though, with the more fantastical ones like Midsummer Nights Dream and Macbeth being my cup of tea. 

Believed to be written around 1599, the play is set before, during and after the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 during the Hundred Year's War against Britain and France. When his father dies, young Prince Henry ascends to the throne, and decides to prove his worth by winning the war against France, using any legal/logical thread on his claim. Sound timely...? 

Some of the roster of high-calibre who have played this role on stage include Laurence Olivier, Richard Burton Christopher Plummer, Ian Holm, Adrian Lester, Kenneth Branagh and Jude Law; and of course I cannot forget Tom Hiddleston (*swoon*) as part of The Hollow Crown TV series in 2012. And with that, all of those actors had a choice in how to play him, whether as a hero or more villainous figure, depending on how they saw the text. 

Take Olivier's 1944 screen adaptation, filmed during World War 2, filmed in bright colours, and as a piece to life the country's spirits and patriotism. In an interview with Tina De Healy before the show began, Harrington explained he went for the opposite of that; and that it was important to him that Henry was portrayed as a darker character. 

Add how he played Henry in that everyone wore modern dress, and it wasn't difficult to draw natural parallels...

Now while it may not be my favourite Shakespeare upon consideration, there is one thing this particular play did that made my linguist heart sour! The scenes between the French nobles were all in French!

Scenes like Katherine learning English off her maid Alice, or the Dauphin bantering with his soldiers, were done so naturally it took me a second to realise that no, these aren't French actors coming in to do their part. I must therefore give credit to not only them, but to the Dialect Coaches too: Fabien Enjalric and Majella Hurley. The dedication, as someone who has studied French and KNOWS how hard it is to get right must have been off the chart. 

And not only that we had Miranda Wong's Chorus break into either Chinese or Korean (couldn't tell) at times, and Steven Meo's (Pride & Prejudice) Llewellyn brought out some lovely Welsh as well - my linguist brain was having a great time! 

The more about it, the more I feel that Henry V is one of those plays you cannot fully distinguish with just one production alone. For what they wanted to achieve, the team at the Donmar pulled it off making it intimate and relevant for the day; but I think everyone will have a different interpretation and experience whichever version you see. So the more I try and clear out this brain fog mixed with a really bad cold keeping me off work mixed in to create a thick noggin soup.... the more I feel you need to make the decision yourself. Who was Henry to you? 

If this version comes back in cinemas, or on the NT Live at Home service, I'd recommend giving it a chance - and see how it compares to any others you may have seen.