17 - Henry VI Part 1

I have to admit I was put off by this play even before I started it. I don’t know if it was simply the daunting prospect of being in three parts or a sense that 'Here there be a stinker!' After all, if H VI 1, 2 and 3 don’t get the same amount of attention as the other histories there must be a reason…

Having said that I did enjoy some of this play. I particularly liked the feel of the first scene with the funeral of Henry V and everyone saying what a tough act he’d be to follow (boy were they right!) And the better parts of the rest of the piece, those scenes with the mighty Talbot and the saintly Joan, were bordering on the Bards usual standards. But if only Billy-Boy had centred it all on their stories rather than Henry’s I think it would have made for a much better play. He also needed to cut down considerably on all the running in and out of castles, which just has an air of Monty Python about it – “Attack!!!!..... Run away! Run away!”.  And why bring in another Falstaff, who is not the first Falstaff even though he is still a cowardly knight who gets into a ‘bit of trouble’ by running away... LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!

"Run away!"

But the saving grace for me is one single scene – the meeting between Suffolk and Margaret in Act 5 which I felt made wonderful use of the Shakespearian aside. The two characters spend a deal of time speaking to themselves or aside to the audience. However, rather than let this convention go, as is normally the case, the character left out of the aside picks up on the fact that the first person appears to be speaking to themselves! They either hear snippets of the aside and misunderstand or wonder if the other person is in fact mad (but still thinking they are a bit of alright!) The whole scene is quite post-modern but also very out of place. The concept would have worked better in a comedy than in this botched together bunch of battles [aside] or would it?

And finally – It was quite fortunate that the arguing nobility were in a rose garden when choosing up sides. History could have been quite different if they’d taken a left when entering the grounds – “Come sir, tis time to choose! Will you take up the glorious green courgette or the deceitful orange carrot?” and so began ‘The War of the Root Vegetables’…

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