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And before anyone complains, yes I know my icon is of Aneurin Barnard as Richard III rather than Jude Law as Henry V but you can't have everything.
So, yesterday I went up to London to see Jude Law in Henry V at the Noel Coward Theatre. It was a good production, and the matinee performance was a sell out. The production has had good reviews, which it certainly deserved, although as the Evening Standard pointed out it was about half an hour shorter than most productions, which I did notice.
I last saw Henry V two years ago in Cardiff when the Globe Touring Company performed it before the summer season at the Globe. Jamie Parker was a more dynamic king, who I felt would have inspired his troups more than Jude Law. And overall the Globe Company had more buzz about them, but that's not to say it wasn't well done. I was particularly impressed with Ashley Zhangazha who played the part of the Chorus with great enthusiasm. Whilst the rest of the cast were in period costume he wore jeans and a t-shirt, which set him apart and showed clearly that his role was outside the main action of the play.
I was particularly struck by the fact that although the play purports to be the history of an English king in the early 1400s, this was a play based around 1600 and written for that time. A powerful English king who defeated his enemies and thus a rallying point for a nation that had come under threat. "Cry God for Harry, England and Saint George."
So, yesterday I went up to London to see Jude Law in Henry V at the Noel Coward Theatre. It was a good production, and the matinee performance was a sell out. The production has had good reviews, which it certainly deserved, although as the Evening Standard pointed out it was about half an hour shorter than most productions, which I did notice.
I last saw Henry V two years ago in Cardiff when the Globe Touring Company performed it before the summer season at the Globe. Jamie Parker was a more dynamic king, who I felt would have inspired his troups more than Jude Law. And overall the Globe Company had more buzz about them, but that's not to say it wasn't well done. I was particularly impressed with Ashley Zhangazha who played the part of the Chorus with great enthusiasm. Whilst the rest of the cast were in period costume he wore jeans and a t-shirt, which set him apart and showed clearly that his role was outside the main action of the play.
I was particularly struck by the fact that although the play purports to be the history of an English king in the early 1400s, this was a play based around 1600 and written for that time. A powerful English king who defeated his enemies and thus a rallying point for a nation that had come under threat. "Cry God for Harry, England and Saint George."
