Henry V
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Henry V Details
Henry V is the most famous and influential of Shakespeare’s history plays. Its powerful patriotic rhetoric has resounded down the ages, gaining eloquent expression in Laurence Olivier’s renowned film. Henry himself, astute and charismatic, who led his ‘band of brothers’ to victory in the Battle of Agincourt, could indeed seem to be ‘this star of England’. In recent decades the play has attracted increasing critical attention and is now highly controversial.
Reviews
This rendering of Henry V is generally very well acted, with superb articulation by the actors. Compared to many film (and stage) versions of Shakespeare, where the actors seem to want to speak the lines as quickly as possible--seemingly because they feel that's how they should present emotion--and end up slurring the words together, the actors in this recording can communicate emotional range in a very articulate way, with excellent enunciation, well-placed pauses, and good modulation. The dialogue truly comes alive, and nuances unnoticed while reading come through clearly.Another strong point is the evenness of the quality of the acting. All the characters, however minor or major, are played equally well, a sign of a well-directed play.The music is at times a little sappy (for example during the St. Crispin Day's speech), but on the whole, if you want to really connect with spoken Shakespeare, it's hard to go wrong with this choice, either for teachers of Shakespeare or simple lovers of the bard.