Saturday 2 July 2016

Stratford Festival 2016 # 2 and # 4: Uneasy Lies the Head

Wait a minute!  Stratford Festival 2016 # 2 AND # 4?  

Yes, indeed.  More than this: the two-part presentation entitled Breath of Kings is actually a condensed adaptation and conflation of four of Shakespeare's history plays:  Richard II, Henry IV Parts I & II, and Henry V.

But these four plays do, in effect, tell a single continuous story, with common characters carrying over from one to another.  They also use the same actors and creative team, which is why I am choosing to treat the entire two-part performance as a single entity for review purposes.

These history plays, with a couple of exceptions, have not fared as well with audiences outside of the British Isles.  The history which they dramatize is not familiar to most people in other lands, and yet the plays presume a working background knowledge of the times, places, and people involved.  For this reason, the histories have generally not been as frequently staged at Stratford as many of the Bard's other plays.

This is only the latest of several projects at the Stratford Festival over the years to combine two or more of the history plays in condensed form into a single entity.  This particular project is the brainchild of Graham Abbey, and this world-premiere at Stratford is staged by arrangement with his Groundling Theatre Company in Toronto.

The basic plan is simple enough.  Each of the four original separate plays is condensed into a single act for the purpose of this two-show adaptation.  The first night I saw Breath of Kings: Rebellion which encompasses Richard II and Henry IV Part 1.  The second night I saw Breath of Kings: Redemption which takes in Henry IV Part 2 and Henry V.  One notable exception is the transferring of the scene in the Eastcheap tavern after Falstaff's death from the Henry V act to the Henry IV Part II act.  Since the entire tetralogy is performed by the same company of nineteen performers, this has the advantage of freeing up the actors from the tavern for other parts in the final act.

The key problem with this procedure is that it knocks sizable holes in the historic underpinnings of the plays -- nowhere more so than in the two parts of Henry IV.  Anyone who knows these plays well will probably be able to guess what's coming.  The various scenes involving Falstaff have been left largely intact.  To make room for them, other scenes and characters have either disappeared entirely (Glendower) or been severely abbreviated.

But why not?  The main thread of the story remains, for the most part, clear enough to follow.  In case of any difficulties, the Stratford programme includes family trees which help enormously to clarify who is related to whom and in what degree.  And Falstaff is such a delightful comic rogue that it would be a shame to abbreviate him!

The Tom Patterson Theatre has been reconfigured this year as an arena stage with seating on all four sides.  It makes little difference to the issues of staging a production.  The one hazard of this space, as always, is the loss of sound at either end of a long rectangular hall which was actually built as a curling arena.  Audience members seated along the long sides have a better chance to hear everything said than those at the narrow ends, under the highest part of the arched roof.  The new configuration has made it worse, since actors now have to spend a certain amount of time facing one end or the other of the hall alternately.

And so to the actual productions.  In Breath of Kings: Rebellion, Tom Rooney as Richard II was petulant, temperamental, arbitrary, and just on the verge of turning into a whiny spoiled brat.  "Just on the verge" is an excellent place to play this character of kingship gone sour.  His scene of forced abdication and the surrendering of the symbols of his kingly power was his finest moment, the man finally coming to true maturity late, but not too late.  Graham Abbey was a forceful Bolingbroke, and made a strong case that he was best fitted to wear the crown.  Anusree Roy made a powerful impression as the Duchess of York, pleading for the life of her son.  Geraint Wyn Davies and Carly Street created a touching, nostalgic atmosphere as the two gardeners.

One of the intriguing aspects of this dual production is the casting of a number of male roles with female actors.  It might confuse some people at first glance, but I found it very easy to come to terms with a woman being addressed as "my lord Archbishop" or the like, and from then on it became the norm and thus a non-issue.

The second act brings forward Araya Mengesha in the critical role of Prince Hal, later to be King Henry V.  Mengesha brings plenty of energy to this role, striking perfectly the note that makes us, no less than his father, doubt his suitability for kingship.  He thus doubled the impact of the scene where he promises his father to make good, and offers to wager on single combat with Hotspur.

I've often thought through the years the Geraint Wyn Davies was ideally suited, both temperamentally and vocally, for the role of Sir John Falstaff -- and he amply proved the point here.  His big voice (this is one man whose words never got lost on an audience) and his extrovert style of acting allow him to wear the character of the fat knight, with all his deceptions and self-aggrandizement, like a second skin.  A treasurable portrait.

Johnathon Sousa was a total firebrand as Hotspur, flaring in bursts of temper, striding swiftly about the stage,  dominating every scene in which he appeared, yet always plainly on the end of a self-held rein.  Hotspur's death speech and Prince Henry's funeral tribute to him were emotional high points of the play.

The title of the second play, Breath of Kings: Redemption, plainly refers to Prince Henry's progress towards the throne and into the complete king which he becomes.  The young prince and king-to-be must become the centre of this play, and it was here that Mengesha's performance showed some weakness.  Although he portrayed the right aspects in several key scenes, it was less clear how he developed from the character at the beginning of the play to the character at the end.  We, the audience, need to see and hear this growing, this maturing, not just be given the results of it.

More vocal variety would have helped too.  The "once more unto the breach" speech was given in a hoarse bellow, all at the same volume level.  That might do in real life, but theatre is not meant to be real -- rather, it should be realistic -- and this speech could benefit from some more shaping.  How much this might help was clearly seen when Mengesha later modulated his delivery of the "St. Crispin's Day" speech much more thoughtfully, to excellent effect.

Another dramatic and emotional high point was the deathbed scene of Graham Abbey as Henry IV with Mengesha as his son and heir.  Here, both men became completely believable as human beings, and we had a very rare glimpse of the man inside the public persona from each.

Another point where I would have liked to see a bigger contrast: I wanted to be able to hear and see the hot air hissing out of Falstaff after he is disowned by the new king.  Vocally, Davies moved into a less blustery, less pompous mode, but the physical change that also needed to happen was too subtle -- a major lack in a character whose every moment has to become larger than life.

The recruiting scene of the "scarecrow army" in Gloucestershire was unclear, with lines being tossed off like so many throwaways, and the motivation behind the entire scene didn't come into view.

Set against these relative disappointments were some strong performances indeed.  Kate Hennig's breezy performance as the Hostess of the Tavern, Mistress Quickly, was a delight -- genial and commanding all at once.  Carly Street's iron-willed and diamond-hard Archbishop of York held the stage with confidence and power to spare.

In the second act (the Henry V act), Tom Rooney was a conversational but completely clear one-man Chorus.  Geraint Wyn Davies gave us an effective Captain Fluellen.  Wayne Best wrapped himself in the tattered remains of his dignity and power as the King of France -- majestic and royal, even with little cause to still be so.  Anusree Roy gave a regally dignified performance as his Queen.

Mikaela Davies had her best moments of the two evenings as the Princess Katherine of France, and her French-English speeches were very convincing -- as were those of her lady-in-waiting, Alice (Irene Poole).  Michelle Giroux made a stately, courteous herald Montjoy -- probably the biggest role ever given to a herald in any play!

Last and by no means least, Falstaff's page boy, Davy Gam, was played by a bright-eyed Brent McCready-Branch.  His strong voice and crystal clear diction outran some of his adult colleagues.

Across the two evenings, the understated sets and set pieces designed by Anahita Dehbonehie supported everything that happened without ever drawing focus.  Yannik Larivee's costumes, although not historically accurate (nor even especially detailed), certainly clarified the relationships and social standings of all the characters.  Kimberly Purtell's lighting designs were absolutely critical, in this theatre-in-the-round environment, in helping to create a clear sense of time and place for the various scenes.

The multiple battle and fight scenes were effectively staged, with clever use of lighting effects and slow-motion background fighting during dialogue passages.  The sections of the stage floor which were pulled up and piled at odd angles highlighted the crucial scenes of the Battle of Agincourt in the final act.

The directing team of Mitchell Cushman and Weyni Mengesha definitely guided the company well in getting these sometimes-ponderous plays up off the ground, and keeping them moving along.  The bone I have to pick with them lay with the oft-times unmotivated rotating of actors in their places on the stage.  Too often, it became a question of "I have to turn so everyone in the audience can see me" rather than "this character has to turn because he/she needs to...."

In short, then -- plenty of effective work, some truly powerful scenes, mostly positive cuts to the lengthy original scripts, added up to a gripping and involving two nights of theatre.  The various caveats I've noted shouldn't detract from the considerable overall strengths of these productions.

Perhaps the real problem in the end lies with the size and shape of the theatre itself.  Having taken the step of going to a four-sided seating configuration, perhaps Stratford now needs to pull the new end seating closer to the opposite end seats, and so reduce the playing area to a more workable size.

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