Revivals of Shakespeare's Henry V often reflect the politics of the moment, and a new Royal Shakespeare Company production arrives amid global instability and fractured alliances. Michael Billington argues that the history plays have more urgent relevance today than the tragedies, raising issues such as good governance and deposing tyrants that still haunt us.
The play constantly changes meaning. In 1599, audiences anxiously awaited news of an Irish uprising. Laurence Olivier's 1944 film was a wartime morale booster, while Kenneth Branagh's 1989 version was haunted by Vietnam. Past productions have deglamorised war and sharpened modern relevance, from Adrian Noble's rain-drenched soldiers to Nicholas Hytner's 2003 production shadowed by Iraq.
Tamara Harvey, the first woman to direct the play for the RSC, leads a company of 11 men and eight women, with Alfred Enoch as Henry. Burgundy's speech on war's devastation—where survivors 'grow like savages—as soldiers will / That nothing do but meditate on blood'—has new potency as Europe confronts conflict once more.
