I must take issue with Herrison's review; to describe this production as 'punk Shakespeare', and claim that it is not 'dry-as-dust', is an unfortunate misrepresentation. Perhaps the biggest issue is describing the running time as 'a tight two and a half hours'; the show was rather closer to three, and could hardly be described as 'tight'.
I'm afraid that where Herrison saw a production that was 'joyfully played', I saw one that failed to convince me, from the misguided belief that the nuances of two full-length plays could be rendered in one, to the largely unconvincing acting. There are flashes of energy and charisma from Joe Robertson, but overall his characterisation failed to grasp the complexities of Hal's balancing-act, and was a little inconsistent in its quality. Other highlights come from Vyvyan Almond, though he sacrifices a little of the serious threat of his Welsh chieftain, and Arabella Lawson, who was probably the show's most natural and believable performer.
The rest of the cast are uneven; Simon Tavener himself gives a self-indulgent and unrestrained performance; he loses Bolingbroke's intelligence and pragmatism, which rather undermines his strengths as a king; in fact, this is a common problem, with a number of performers either failing to grasp, or incapable of displaying, the subtleties of their characters beyond stereotype.
I was certainly not the only audience member leaving somewhat bored, which is a shame given the excellent source material, and the obvious talents of some cast members. A poor choice of adaptation, I'm afraid, and some shoddy execution.
I'm afraid that where Herrison saw a production that was 'joyfully played', I saw one that failed to convince me, from the misguided belief that the nuances of two full-length plays could be rendered in one, to the largely unconvincing acting. There are flashes of energy and charisma from Joe Robertson, but overall his characterisation failed to grasp the complexities of Hal's balancing-act, and was a little inconsistent in its quality. Other highlights come from Vyvyan Almond, though he sacrifices a little of the serious threat of his Welsh chieftain, and Arabella Lawson, who was probably the show's most natural and believable performer.
The rest of the cast are uneven; Simon Tavener himself gives a self-indulgent and unrestrained performance; he loses Bolingbroke's intelligence and pragmatism, which rather undermines his strengths as a king; in fact, this is a common problem, with a number of performers either failing to grasp, or incapable of displaying, the subtleties of their characters beyond stereotype.
I was certainly not the only audience member leaving somewhat bored, which is a shame given the excellent source material, and the obvious talents of some cast members. A poor choice of adaptation, I'm afraid, and some shoddy execution.