‘Henry 4’ – Bell Shakespeare

HENRY 4 – BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
DIRECTED BY JOHN BELL WITH DAMIEN RYAN
BELL SHAKESPEARE – DRAMA THEATRE, SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE
25 APRIL – 26 MAY 2013

NOTE: FIRST TRANSCRIPTION! Woot! The show was about 3 hours and 20 minutes, including interval, so we thought it would be wise to have an ‘Interval Chat’ and then a ‘Post Show Chat’. Turns out it all got a bit late, so we only have a summation of the first half. That’s theatre baby!

INTERVAL CHAT 

Lea: Well the first half of the show kind of had some false endings. I kept thinking the house lights were about to come up for interval, and then – there was more.
Sybil: I think partially because it was so long. We’re going – “Was that the end? Or is that the end? Is that the end!? No. Is that the end?”
Lea: “Surely It’s going to end with that?”
Sybil: “Yes with a song! But… no. Okay then.”
Lea: *laughs* The set was really nicely done. I loved the milk crate Union Jack at the beginning of the play.
Sybil: And the Scottish guy is awesome!
Lea: Scottish guy rules!
Sybil: *in accent* Scoor-tish guy.
Lea: I love him doing all the drum work as well, it was really, really cool. And he’s been very strong. And, in fact, the guy who plays Percy (Jason Klarwein) is really good too.
Sybil: *looks quizzically at Lea*
Lea: The son.
Sybil: Oh the son, he’s awesome. I wasn’t sure about him at the start, but yeah, he was really good. I thought his girlfriend (Matilda Ridgway) was good. Whatever her name is?
Lea: Kate?
Sybil: Kate! I thought Kate was quite good. You weren’t a fan?
Lea: I felt like she was doing all of the things you’re supposed to do when you play a Shakespearean female. The trembling voice when she’s really emotional. Then strong, rounded, deep tones when she’s making a heated point. I thought it was a little bit ‘acting by numbers’.
Sybil: Over done?
Lea: No, just by the numbers. Do you like Matty Moore?
Sybil: He’s awesome! He’s absolutely awesome.
Lea: I love how the language trips off his tongue like HE’S speaking it. In almost a naturalistic way.
Sybil: And he is so playful with it. I liked him. I like the guy who played the young Harry, with the broad Australian accent (Ben Wood).
Lea: Oh yeah, yeah yeah yeah, and he wore the big hat. Yeah, yeah, he was really good.
Sybil: A really, really broad Australian accent. I was like, that is awesome.
Lea: Wasn’t he also the Scottish dude?
Sybil: Oh is he?
Lea: Yes I think so.
Sybil: I wasn’t the world’s biggest fan, I have to say, of John (Bell). John, I’m like, he’s a bit broad.
Lea: It is a very broad performance.
Sybil: It’s very broad. It’s not very nuanced, but it’s not meant to be. That’s not the role.
Lea: Exactly, it’s not meant to be overly complex.
Sybil: *consulting cast sheet deciding on who to talk about next* Who’s that?
Lea: Is it Percy? We should go check the cast banner (and buy a program next time – you live and learn).
Sybil: Hotspur? Hotspur. Yes that’s him. Ah we’re going to see more of him (the actor Ben Wood) in the second act. That’ll be cool.
Lea: See, he also plays Northumberland, that’s the Dad.
Sybil: Douglas? Yes.
Lea: He also plays the Sheriff.
Sybil: Ah yes that’s him. He’s great (all Ben Wood).
Lea: Amazing. *pointing to cast sheet* Nathan Lovejoy is the one you said, ‘his legs go on forever’.
Sybil: Oh my god!
Lea: He’s great.
Sybil: I just can’t get past his legs.
Lea: He played Caliban in The Tempest at Bell a number of years ago.
Sybil: He’s so tall and skinny. And his legs…
Lea: Yes… *embarrassed laugh*
Sybil: Like from the knee down they’re a normal size, but from the knee to the hip… they’re like twice the normal size of thigh bone!
Lea: I really like his presence on stage.
Sybil: No, no, look, he’s fine. I just can’t get past his legs. And he’s slightly… what’s the word I’m looking for? When you’re slightly double-jointed.
Lea: (ignoring Sybil’s stupid question) The mate of Prince Hal’s, who foiled the four older dudes and stole from them (Yalin Ozucelik)…
Sybil: Oh, really, really not a big fan?
Lea: Yeah. I wasn’t ‘anti’ him, but I wasn’t ‘into’ him.
Sybil: I was a bit anti. But it’s this woman *points to Mistress Quickly* (Wendy Strehlow). Apart from the fact, I don’t know how old she is, she looks like she’s in her 50’s, the legs on that woman are just unbelievable.
Lea: I know. *embarrassed laugh*
Sybil: I’m obsessed by legs in this show!
Lea: I know. Those leggings were clinging to her fabulously.
Sybil: They’re toned and muscular and amazing. And seriously every time she’s on stage that’s all I’m looking at.
Lea: I was also looking at her pink boots and her pink leg warmers which I think are fabulous.
Sybil: But look at those legs and that teeny little bottom. *laughs* So anyway… obviously her performance is not outshining her legs.
Lea: Hmmm. No. Now he’s the white-haired dude who… *pointing to cast sheet*
Sybil: Oh he’s great (Tony Llewellyn-Jones). We’ve seen him in stuff before. He’s awesome.
Lea: And Arky Michael…
*announcement sounds for commencement of Act 2*
Sybil: Already?
Lea: I think they’ve cut the interval short because the show started late.
Sybil: Ah.
Lea: Just quickly… I really like the style of the show. Stylistically I’m really digging it.
Sybil: Oh, stylistically I’m loving it. Absolutely loving it.
Lea: It’s seamless, all the changes are seamless. The simplicity, yet without making it stark. Well it kind of is. It’s bare…
Sybil: It doesn’t feel bare.
Lea: They really use their entrances and exits to great effect.
Sybil: They use the stage really well. So they are not going, “Okay, strike one scene, then bring the next scene on”…
Lea: Yeah you feel that the essence of that one scene leaves as the other one begins. And then the slight left and right staging of the two camps, but not done too obviously.
Sybil: Yeah. Yeah.
Lea: So that means there is only probably… *tries to do the math*… only half an hour left! (and gets it woefully wrong. There is one and a half hours to go).
Sybil: Yeah so it’s a really short second half. Interesting.
Lea: We’ll have to see where they pick up on the story.
Sybil: Maybe they are changing the set.
Lea: It would have been hard to end the first half before the battle. After you’ve built and built and built to that point – how would you…
Sybil: I think it could’ve ended at Jerusalem. Quite easily.
Lea: I think so too and then come in at the start of the battle, really quite strong.
Sybil: Well let’s see what the second half is like.

MINI POST SHOW CHAT

Sybil: I don’t know that I have anything to add after the first half.
Lea: Really? There were some performances that took off in the second half. I loved the drunken play of Doll Tearsheet (Matilda Ridgway). Then the scene of the passing of the crown from father to son…
Sybil: Yes! That was amazing.
Lea: Really strong. The power of the King (David Whitney), yet the humility of Hal (Matthew Moore). It was beautifully played.
Sybil: I agree. That scene really redeemed the character of Henry 4 for me.

IN SUMMARY

Sybil: Engaging production with some very fine performances. Stand out for me (other than my weird preoccupation with legs) was Matthew Moore who spoke the words ‘trippingly on the tongue’ (go me with my Shakespearian references – even if it’s totally the wrong play).
Lea: An energetic and inventive production by Bell Shakespeare. Loved it! Loved Matty Moore! Not one of our most coherent posts, but hey, you get that. The live music and anarchic vibe really worked.

PRE SHOW EATS: Cheap eats tonight at The Paragon Hotel. The $10 chicken parmigiana and chips were surprisingly good.
INTERVAL DRINKS: SOH Drama Theatre Bar. We already had so much to talk about at interval, that this usually relaxed 15 minutes, was full with show chatter.
POST SHOW DRINKS: After 3 hours and 20 minutes, Syb had to dash home to feed and walk her dogs, so we wrapped up our chat on the fly.
OUR HANGOVER STATUS: Far more clear-headed than Falstaff unfortunately.
MORE INFO: 2013season.bellshakespeare.com.au/henry4