Oliver Johnstone, left, and Joshua Griffin in Henry V
(Picture: Johan Persson)This drastically edited, dramatically stripped back production allows Shakespeare’s study of kingship to speak with new and unusual clarity. Oliver Johnstone’s Henry V is no nationalist hero but a complex figure learning the brutal rules of monarchy and war on the job. It’s performed on a stage bare apart from a few chairs, with a largely young cast in everyday clothes playing multiple roles. And it’s intense.
Instead of the Chorus’s usual rousing “Oh for a muse of fire” speech, the action begins in darkness, with a dying King Henry IV. His heir knows that the crown is an ambiguous prize, but after an admirably brisk and coherent instruction in international relations he decides to claim France.
