Playmakers’ Henry V

A quick audience scan at PlayMakers Repertory Company’s Tuesday night rendition of Henry V: largely polarized between the 50-plus and college-aged crowds.

The senior audience is equipped with superior Shakespeare comprehension and alacrity to respond to the brain whorl of historicism, sexual double entendres and severe rhetorical wit. The younger audience brought notebooks or dates—indications of ulterior, not-purely-dramaturgical motives—and expressions of transfixion and puzzlement.

This is how live Shakespeare operates in 2012: as some sort of evolutionary victory over short attention spans. A woman next to me followed along with the play on a SparkNotes page pulled up on her iPad, which struck me as a novel idea, despite the pre-show announcement of electronic prohibition. Anyhow, it’s pleasant to imagine that the over-the-hill attendees were once (advertently or not) captivated by Shakespeare in a similar fashion. It’s not as if his theater and especially his language were contemporary to anyone living.

But in the spirit of the contemporary, a logical touchstone for co-directors Joseph Haj and Mike Donahue’s Henry IV and V is the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and in this final installment, its relation to The Return of the King. Mind you, Shakespeare’s historical epics are much more related to actual historical events, both works pack in an incredible amount of immediately classic action and speech. Shawn Fagan as King Henry is even Aragorn-esque is his kingly depiction—one can mistake a knack for speaking with constant monologic bravado for intense physical attractiveness.

Naturally, Fagan as is the vessel for most of the melodrama, including the St. Crispin’s Day speech, famous for its moving homosocial militancy (“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers”). Still, Shakespeare’s transformation of the reckless Prince Hal in Henry IV to the regal King Henry of Henry V yields diminishing returns in Fagan’s unerring heroism (astute inquisitions of aspiring traitors, courageous summonings to arms).

Fortunately, supporting characters like Falstaff (played wryly by Michael Winters, formerly of Gilmore Girls) shift the dramatic load to cleverer, more consistently amusing roles. As the French princess pursued by the young king, Katherine Didion is fantastic. In a most hilarious scene, she ascends to the stage in a bubble bath and is tutored in the English words for various body parts, until she arrives at Shakespeare’s favorite synonym for vagina.

Mark Lewis’ live score, which provides more of a dramatic luster than bona fide soundtrack, and wowing tech details, including simulated rainfall and an elevator stage platform, add pizzazz unknown to 17th century audiences.

For the uninitiated, these performances may side more on spectacle than true engagement, but fortunately the mix of seasoned Anglophiles and newcomers that sold out Tuesday’s show give PlayMakers due cause to run a three-part, six hour play that attracts enthusiasm and not just deference.