Following a critically acclaimed opening at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse last month, today it has been announced that Henry V will embark on a UK tour in 2023.
In a Shakespeare’s Globe and Headlong production with Leeds Playhouse and Royal & Derngate, Northampton, Henry V explores the single-minded pursuit of Henry V, and what it means to be ‘English,’ offering a different perspective on England’s hero. Henry V will tour to Leeds Playhouse (9-25 February), Connaught Theatre, Worthing (28 February-4 March) and Royal & Derngate, Northampton (7-18 March). Henry V is currently playing at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse until 4 February.
Director Holly Race Roughan (Artistic Director, Headlong) says: “Shakespeare’s plays are packed with so many universal ideas, that they remain intriguingly relevant to contemporary society hundreds of years on. However, occasionally, one of his plays speaks to the present moment so directly, that it takes your breath away. Staging Henry V with the backdrop of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, Brexit, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, feels like one of these moments. This play that teems with the anxiety of royal succession, nationalism, war and imperialism, rips through the centuries and offers us a chance to reflect on our present moment in a powerfully heightened way. We were keen when we embarked on this production to not make a history play, but to treat the play as if it were a new piece of writing that is in conversation with our immediate experience. Our hope is that through this stripped back production, and lean edit, there is space for the audience to bring their imagination and question with us our present situation.”
Henry, the young and newly crowned king, is impatient to assert control over the people of England. Having received a humiliating gift from overseas, his bruised ego leads him to double down on a military invasion abroad in a bid to expand his green and pleasant land. But at what devastating cost?
The cast of Henry V comprises Joséphine Callies as Katherine / Boy, James Cooney as Thomas / Orleans / Gower, Georgia Frost as Nym / Michael Williams / Rambures, Jon Furlong as Bardolph / John Bates / Constable of France, Joshua Griffin as John / Fluellen, Eleanor Henderson as Queen of France / Prince Louis / Ambassador 1 / Le Fer, Oliver Johnstone as Henry V, Geoffrey Lumb as King of France / Erpingham / Governor of Harfleur / Ambassador 2, Helena Lymbery as Henry IV / Exeter and Dharmesh Patel as Scroop / Pistol / Montjoy / Officer.
In each touring location Headlong will collaborate with local schools to offer a theatre devising workshop. This will support GCSE drama students and teachers to engage with a process of radically reinterpreting Henry V and offer tools to enrich their theatre practice and learning. This will be facilitated by Naeem Hayat, the Associate Director of Henry V and Educator and Theatre-Maker Iskandar R. bin Sharazuddin, who is an Associate at Headlong Theatre.
