My wife and I are approaching the end of a long quest: to see all of Shakespeare’s plays in performance. Before this evening, we had just two to go*. Thanks to Jesus College’s Shakespeare Project we’re now down to the last one – and what a way to get there! This production oozed class from beginning to end.
Henry VI, Part One is not often performed as a standalone piece. On those rare occasions when it sees the lights of an auditorium it’s normally truncated with Parts Two and Three into a conglomerate Wars of the Roses compendium. This is a real pity, because it makes for a thrilling play in its own right. It has battles with the dastardly French, heroic deaths, bitter infighting amongst the English lords, Machiavellian love-scenes, and even Joan of Arc. Joan of Arc!
This production was deceptively simply staged in Jesus College Dining Hall. I say ‘deceptively’ because it seemed so natural in execution that the bold directorial decisions underpinning it made perfect and immediate sense. For example, you might have thought they would use the raised high-table platform as the stage, with the audience seated in front of it in traditional formation. But no – the room was used as a traverse theatre, with onlookers seated either side and the action ranging across the full length of the room. This brought the two great oak entrance doors into play, allowed the choir balcony to be used as battlements, but most of all made us feel as though we were in amongst the action rather than observing from a distance.
Putting the play into modern dress was, again, a deceptively simple decision. It meant that, without straining the text, contemporary relevance poured down from history, without needing to be shoved down our throats. The diametrically opposed supporters of the red and white roses (soon to evolve into civil war) felt chillingly Brexit-y. The war in Europe felt too close for comfort. Jess Steadman’s radicalised Joan of Arc seemed to be channelling Shamima Begum. And the jockeying for power at the English court was only too recognisable after our Summer of the Three Prime Ministers.
On top of all that, director Peter Sutton has assembled a cast of rare quality, and allowed each of them to shine. The programme notes reveal that many of them have extensive experience performing Shakespeare, and at least two have been working for years with the National Youth Theatre. It shows. They performed with gravitas, clarity, bold physicality and dynamic but perfectly controlled energy. You can do a lot with a little in Shakespeare. A nod at a character in the middle of a speech can add a layer of meaning. Placing a rose in a buttonhole reveals allegiances. And when you mine the potential of these small gestures, it means moments of intense action and violence have so much more power. Tonight, the deaths of Talbot and his son were shockingly moving; Joan’s trial, with her straining at a retaining rope, was horrific in its cruelty; and dead French soldiers rising ghostlike from the ground put a shiver down the spine.
Normally I would pick out individual performances for special praise. This production is a genuine ensemble effort, and the entire cast deserved the extended applause they received – especially since they were having to manage with two actors absent with illness.
As we head into a true winter of discontent, with strikes, protests and freezing homes, one of Henry’s lines got through to me perhaps more than any other tonight: Civil dissension is a viperous worm That gnaws the bowels of the commonwealth. I hope we’re all still here for Part Two.
* The last one will be Henry VIII.