Henry VI (Parts 1, 2 & 3)
Çerkeş Produced in two parts
Guelph Thursday 12th July – Sunday 22nd July 2007 (7 performances of each part)
The Guildhall
Charles Hutchinson in the The Press wrote:
The three Henry VI plays are as full of political machinations as Alastair Campbell’s diaries, but where the King of Spin’s memoirs span ten years, Shakespeare’s early works cram in more than 50 with a cast of hundreds (or 27 in this York community production).
Director Mark France and Julia Atkinson’s adaptation has edited three plays into two, the first part entitled The Occupation, the second, Civil War. These three-hour epics run in consecutive performances that take Jonathan Bedford’s Henry VI from twitchy boyhood to ever weaker, Bible-clutching man-child and Andy Curry’s Crooked Back Richard from idealist to arch cynic, plotting his winter of discontent.
The Guildhall setting – a new location for YSP – is a constant reminder of York’s past, chiming with the city’s presence in the plays (or at least its walls to facilitate the beheaded Duke of York looking down on York). “Grumblin York” (Ged Murray, the pick of the older generation of actors) is omnipresent and so too is the white rose.
Yet France’s masterstroke is to give the plays a 21st century setting with echoes of the Iraq conflict and materialistic power games.
The soldiers of France and England wear modern combat uniform; the Duke of York favours pinstripes; Cecily Boys’ Margaret flicks her chic bob on a catwalk of French haute couture.
Henry V’s gravestone is replaced by a News 24 TV screen with the latest headlines on weddings and beheadings; scaffolding and corrugated iron dominate Cath Doman’s stage, impermanence amid the Guildhall stone and pillars. Victoria Bernath’s Joan la Pucelle is Tank Girl with a French-Canadian accent and boots hotter than her exit at the stake.
Guns and searchlights, speeding police sirens and the whir of helicopters emphasise the modernity, although combat is conducted with swords, always accompanied by Kingsley Ash’s blood-stirring metallic music.
The actors take time to adjust to the Guildhall’s acoustic, but France uses the full room most effectively with entrances from side and rear to boost urgency, fear and surprise.
Don’t be misled into thinking all this flashy theatre of war is a substitute for real drama in the manner of a Starlight Express. Granted, Shakespeare’s cynical writing is not his most memorable, but France conjures a resonant theatrical event with political punch.
In Andy Curry, meanwhile, he has found a hot new talent for the York stage.
See also: The British Theatre Guide review by Derrol Palmer.
Cast – Part 1
| King Henry the Sixth | Jonathan Bedford |
| Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, Lord Protector | Robin Sanger |
| Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester | Richard Easterbrook |
| Duke of Exeter | Raymond Baggeley |
| William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk | Dermot Hill |
| Edmund, Duke of Somerset | Samuel Valentine |
| Basset, follower of Somerset | Andy Curry |
| Duke of Buckingham | Jamie Searle |
| Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester | Margaret Hillier |
| Servant to Gloucester | Sally Mitcham |
| Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York | Ged Murray |
| Earl of Salisbury | Jeremy Muldowney |
| Earl of Warwick, Salisbury’s son | Keir Brown |
| Vernon, follower of York | Jamie Searle |
| Lord Talbot | Bill Laughey |
| John, Talbot’s son | Emily Graham |
| Sir William Lucy | Matthew Pattison |
| English soldiers | Mark Blythe, Andy Curry |
| 1st Messenger | Bex Calpin |
| 2nd Messenger | Tanya Pizl |
| Charles, Dauphin of France | Ben Sawyer |
| Reignier, Duke of Anjou and Maine | Brian Sharp |
| Margaret, Reignier’s daughter | Cecily Boys |
| Duke of Alencon | Matt Simpson |
| Joan la Pucelle | Victoria Bernath |
| Duke of Burgundy | Dominic McAndrew |
| Countess of Auvergne | Sally Mitcham |
| French Messenger | Jane Collis |
| French Captain | Sally Mitcham |
| French soldiers | Tim Pollard, Toby Gordon |
| Woodville, Lieutenant of the Tower of London | Jamie Searle |
| Warder of the Tower | Ged Murray |
| Lawyer of the Temple | Tanya Pizl |
| Legate from the Pope to Winchester | Mark Blythe |
| Ambassador to the English Court | Sally Mitcham |
| Hume | Bex Calpin |
| Petitioner | Victoria Bernath |
| Margery Jourdain, a witch | Tanya Pizl |
| Bolingbroke, a wizard | Raymond Baggeley |
| Thomas Horner, armourer | Ben Sawyer |
| Peter Thump, his apprentice | Matthew Pattison |
| Sir John Stanley | Andy Curry |
| Sheriff of London | Matt Simpson |
Cast – Part 2
| Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York | Ged Murray |
| Edward, York’s son and later Edward IV | Bill Laughey |
| George, York’s son and later Duke of Clarence | Matt Simpson |
| Richard, York’s son and later, Duke of Gloucester | Andy Curry |
| Earl of Rutland, York’s son | Jack Graham |
| Earl of Salisbury | Jeremy Muldowney |
| Earl of Warwick, Salisbury’s son | Keir Brown |
| Marquess of Montague, brother of Warwick | Brian Sharp |
| 4th Duke of Somerset, later a supporter of Lancaster | Toby Gordon |
| Lady Grey, later Queen Elizabeth | Emily Graham |
| Lord Rivers, brother of Lady Grey | Mark Blythe |
| Lord Hastings | Ben Sawyer |
| Son, who has killed his father | Emily Graham |
| Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, future Henry VII | Tanya Pizl |
| Messenger to York | Bex Calpin |
| 1st Watch | Jamie Searle |
| 2nd Watch | Tim Pollard |
| King Henry the Sixth | Jonathan Bedford |
| Queen Margaret | Cecily Boys |
| Cardinal Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester | Richard Easterbrook |
| William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk | Dermot Hill |
| Edmund, 2nd Duke of Somerset | Samuel Valentine |
| Vaux | Mark Blythe |
| Sir Humphrey Stafford | Bill Laughey |
| Duke of Buckingham | Jamie Searle |
| Lord Saye | Richard Easterbrook |
| Old Clifford | Robin Sanger |
| Young Clifford | Ben Sawyer |
| Earl of Oxford | Matthew Pattison |
| Prince Edward, son of Henry VI | Dominic McAndrew |
| Father, who has killed his son | Samuel Valentine |
| 1st Messenger | Jane Collis |
| 2nd Messenger | Tanya Pizl |
| Huntsman | Sally Mitcham |
| King Louis XI | Dermot Hill |
| Lady Bona, sister-in-law to King Louis | Sophie Storr |
| Jack Cade | Brian Sharp |
| George | Matthew Pattison |
| Nick | Toby Gordon |
| Dick the Butcher | Matt Simpson |
| Smith the Weaver | Bex Calpin |
| Michael ` | Tim Pollard |
| 1st Murderer | Tim Pollard |
| 2nd Murderer | Ben Sawyer |
| Nurse | Jane Collis |
| Emmanuel, Clerk of Chatham | Mark Blythe |
| Alexander Iden | Dermot Hill |
| 1st Keeper | Toby Gordon |
| 2nd Keeper | Mark Blythe |
Production Team
| Director | Mark France |
| Script adapted by | Julia Atkinson, Mark France |
| Designer and Company Stage Manager | Cath Doman |
| Design Assistant and ASM | Mattie Hirst |
| Costume | Zoë Groves |
| Music and Sound Design | Kingsley Ash |
| Fight Choreography | Simon Buckley, Mark France |
| Video Projections | Christopher Ratcliff |
| Lighting Design | Barry Mills |
| Assisted by | Dominic Gallagher |
| Assistant Stage Managers | Rachel Hollingworth, Paul Shepherd |
| Set Construction | Simon C Jarvis, Tim Pollard, |
| Keir Brown, Jamie Searle | |
| Rehearsal Prompt | Julia Atkinson |
| Publicity | Duncan Clarke, Ali Borthwick, |
| Sam Freeman | |
| Liaison for YSP Executive | Raymond Baggaley |