(no subject)

[skygiants]

The other day, obopolsk and I, having failed in our attempt to land Shakespeare in the Park tickets, decided to expand our outdoor Shakespeare horizons and go check out New York Classical Theater's Henry V in Battery Park. Going in we knew nothing except that at some point the company planned to herd us all onto a ferry to Governor's Island, and . . . not gonna lie, in 90-some-degree heat, a free boat trip sounded really nice.

It turned out to be one of those productions that runs you around after the actors as they do their scenes in different places, which - it was fun! It was really fun! It was also pretty much what obopolsk ended up describing as the "Henry V Greatest Hits Exercise Video."

Parts of Henry V that were not, as far as we could tell, included anywhere in this production:
- the Chorus
- any mention of Falstaff
- the entire subplot about the assassination plot on Henry
- the scene with the French princess and her maid
- actually, any female characters at all except the French princess at the very end
- the subplot where Henry disguises himself to hang out with the troops and gets in a fight

Parts of Henry V that were in fact included in this production, some of which may not have been part of the original play:
- all of Henry's famous speeches, occasionally divorced of context
- every scene in which anyone could possibly find an excuse to speak in an outrrrrageous French accent
- every scene involving Comedy Welsh Nationalism
- the scene where the angry soldier with the glove comes looking for the soldier who got in a fight with him, who was actually the disguised Henry - somewhat inexplicably, since the entire rest of that subplot is no longer included
- a number of helpful speeches exhorting us, the audience, to disembark and set forth upon the shores of France upon this bold and noble enterprise IN A POLITE AND ORDERLY FASHION and with fierce mettle upon our countenance etc. etc.

In short, the entire experience was hugely entertaining and felt quite a lot like being in the middle of a Monty Python skit.

Comments

[kate_nepveu]

I love NY Classical Theater and make a point of trying to see them when I can. But yes, they do abridge things quite substantially--last year I saw them do _Richard III_ in Central Park and was briefly confused by their omission of young Richard from the play, because I've never actually read it but was quite sure that it was the Prince_s_ in the Tower. =>

[skygiants]

Hee! Yeah, on the one hand, I totally get the need to cut down on the actual time you spend having actors talking when you're taking five or ten minutes in between every scene to get the audience where you need them to go, and yet . . .

I would definitely go see other productoins, though. Now that they have worked out how to acquire a boat, I am extremely hopeful that they will attempt a Tempest on a real live island with a very polite and orderly shipwreck!

[kate_nepveu]

Ooh, that would be awesome.