The Mac Weekly

Issue date: 2/22/08 Section: The Arts

Media Credit: Copyright Act One, Too, Ltd. Ian Miller portrays the charismatic young king in Shakespeare's King Henry V, performing weekends February 8-March 2 at Theatre in the Round in Minneapolis. For reservations and information, call the box office at 612-333-3010.

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, or close the wall with our English dead," cries Henry in the inspirational speech delivered by the brilliant commander in the heat of battle. Shakespeare's "Henry V" is littered with such speeches and images that have become part of Western popular culture and iconography. Yet it is more than just a propagandistic adulation of an English king because Shakespeare chose to weave ironies into the play that reveal the complexities of Henry's character. The play is currently being performed at the fitting Theatre in the Round (the opening chorus alludes to the play being performed in a "wooden O"). For the most part, the production is truly exceptional and powerful, though at times a bit muddled. Overall Theatre in the Round has staged an accurate and decent representation of "Henry V."

Perhaps most notable is the chorus. Normally performed by a single actor, the chorus has been restructured to showcase several actors, demonstrating the diversity of personages in England at the time. The result is a powerful showing of the disparate peoples united under Henry's banner and affected by his decisions.

The opening and closing choruses are particularly brilliant, setting both the tone of the play and leaving an impression in the audience's mind. The production opens with the Boy, a poor street urchin, delivering the opening lines as a young boy infatuated with military heroes and playing with toy soldiers. A few lines in, an aristocrat enters, castigating the Boy as one of the "unraised spirits" daring to perform this history on the stage. This sudden juxtaposition establishes the temper of a performance that focuses not merely on Henry and his charisma, but on the various groups impacted by his war. The final chorus, which warns against the violence of war and provides a discordant note in an otherwise triumphant ending, gave me shivers and hinted at further violence (chronicled in Shakespeare's tetralogy about Henry VI).

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