Bell Shakespeare’s latest production stylised as Henry 5 instead of Henry V is the first clue that this is a modern take on the Bard’s most famous ‘war play’.
Then there’s the set design. Instead of a royal court, the opening scenes have the appearance of a boxing gym. Punching bags hang from the ceiling, while members of the aristocracy wear street clothes and activewear.
Soldiers are assigned ID numbers. The numbers appear on a digital display board hanging above the stage. It resembles an electronic queue system you may see in a Medicare or passport office.
Director Marion Potts’ modernisation spree even extends to the script. Numerous characters and subplots are jettisoned. Potts has the French characters speak extensively in their native language, with the digital display showing subtitles.
But if it sounds like she has watered things down, fear not. Bell Shakespeare’s first production of 2025 is an excellent example of theatrical distillation. This Henry 5 is clear, direct, easy to follow and understand.
While purists may sniff at this approach, it’s actually a very good thing. There’s so much in Henry 5 that relates to the state of the modern world, it would be a shame if it was obfuscated by an antiquated, puritanical approach to the text.
In the age of Trump and Putin, this tale of an English king who wants to annex France after a perceived insult by a French prince is as current as ever.
The hubris of leaders, their disrespect for another land’s sovereignty, the cost of war, the fact that war is fuelled by the bodies and lives of the young. It’s all, sadly, very relevant.
Wisely, Potts doesn’t mess with the two powerful speeches delivered by Henry. The ’once more unto the breach’ and St Crispin’s Day speeches – considered among the best in the Shakespearean canon – are delivered in a time-honoured way.
J K Kazzi, in his Bell Shakespeare debut, does the two speeches justice with his vigorous, youthful reading.
The words ‘vigorous’ and ‘youthful’ also apply to the fresh-faced cast of 11, seven of whom have their Bell Shakespeare debut here.
They’re supported by a talented and effective creative team. Anna Tregloan’s set is clever and versatile, with its trapezoid structure that is dissembled and reassembled in various configurations to create different scenes.
At one point, huge buckets of ‘goop’ are tipped onto the stage, to replicate the mud of the battlefield. The dirty, chaotic reality of war is driven home as the characters trudge, slip and slide through the ‘mud’.
The only complaint about this production is that it follows the annoying but very modern trend of eschewing an interval. At almost two hours long, the lack of an interval becomes annoying when patrons start taking their own toilet breaks during the play.
Read: Musical review: MJ The Musical, Sydney Lyric Theatre
It’s distracting and completely unnecessary. And it can be easily remedied by simply inserting an interval at an appropriate juncture.
Overall, though, this is a successful presentation of this famous and pertinent play, which highlights the moral and personal costs of war.
Henry 5 by William Shakespeare
Presented by Bell Shakespeare
The Playhouse, Sydney Opera House
Director: Marion Potts
Set and costume designer: Anna Tregloan
Composer and sound designer: Jethro Woodward
Lighting designer: Verity Hampson
Movement, intimacy and fight director: Nigel Poulton
Voice director: Jack Starkey-Gill
Cast: J K Kazzi, Jack Halabi, Alex Kirwan, Odile le Clézio, Ava Madon, Harrison Mills, Ella Prince, Jo Turner, Mararo Wangai, Rishab Kern, Ziggy Resnick
Tickets: $40-$124
Henry 5 will be performed at Sydney Opera House until 5 April 2025 before touring to the Canberra Theatre Centre from 10-20 April 2025, the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, Wollongong from 30 April to 3 May 2025 and the Arts Centre Melbourne from 11-25 May 2025.
