We round up the reviews for Tamara Harvey’s production, starring Alfred Enoch and playing until the 25th April.
WhatsOnStage: **** “At the heart of everything stands Enoch’s Henry V, softly-spoken and considerate, but from the very beginning a man who knows his mind and who hardens as the play progresses. There’s hesitation and watchfulness there and he takes the great speeches both rhythmically and conversationally, inviting the audience – on one or two occasions drawing them in – to imagine being one of the happy few or to take his side in wooing his bride.”
Observer.co.uk: “Alfred Enoch’s Henry is engaging and, with the other 18 actors and 15 supernumeraries, clearly committed to achieving the director’s aims. Overall, though, characters and text feel subsidiary to the visual and sound effects (Jamie Salisbury’s score, pleasant but over-intrusive). The immediacy of Shakespeare’s dramatic probing of the morality of war is muffled.”
British Theatre Guide: “Lucy Osborne’s scaffolding set of multiple ladders and platforms leaves plenty of space for an energetic cast, with movement and fights directed by Annie-Lunnette Deakin-Foster and Kate Waters, whose modern choreography brings to life the battle scenes without any resort to stage weaponry, and Jon Laird’s sonorous score heightens the dramatic action.”
Theatre & Tonic: **** “That being said, the cast are invariably doing their best with the material at hand, spearheaded by the incredible Alfred Enoch. Having performed Pericles here in the summer of 2024, Enoch is no stranger to the RSC stage, and indeed he feels very much at home. He devours Henry’s lengthy, rousing monologues, stirring up characters and audience alike, and conveying all their emotion and meaning with ease. He is nimble across the stage, but switches quickly to a stance with more gravitas as the king angers and seeks vengeance. Enoch is a versatile actor capable of providing a beautiful nuance to his characters, and his fellow actors gain their own chances to shine around him, which is lovely to watch.”
The Guardian: *** “lfred Enoch makes a genial young king, with a limber playfulness at the outset that carries the last embers of “wildness” from his dissolute days with Falstaff. Enoch harnesses his likability to spur on the fight in his “once more unto the breach” speech and Saint Crispin’s Day rallying call.”
East Midlands Theatre: ***** “The simple scaffolding-style set proves an inspired choice by designer Lucy Osborne. It creates a flexible and dynamic playing space that allows the cast, alongside the young supernumeraries, to evoke the scale of battle and the sheer number of bodies caught up in war. Actors climb, fall, hang and drape themselves across the structure. It shifts and revolves to become different locations used to full effect.”
Beyond the Curtain.co.uk: **** “Ultimately, this serves as a thoughtful production. The real costs of war are ever timely in our modern days. Enoch and Harvey once again form a superb partnership, offering an evening of theatre packed with powerful acting, clever staging, and action keeping you gripped throughout. An unmissable staging of Shakespeare’s great historical play.”
The Reviews Hub: **** “Harvey has found a Henry V that is both accessible and thought-provoking, navigating the more troubling aspects of the piece with skill. It’s a confident introduction to her tenure in the RSC’s main house.”
Broadway World: *** “Harvey leans too much on the kooky to offer anything of substance. We appreciate the Dauphin’s penning an ode to his horse that starts with comparing it to a summer’s day, but Henry V is so much more than that.”
Stage Talk Magazine: *** “This Henry V is at best when least crowded. The night before Agincourt there is a stillness before the storm. Motionless silhouettes and floating lanterns suggest the camp of waiting soldiers and Henry’s great ‘band of brothers’ speech rings out with poignant familiarity.”
All That Dazzles: **** “It may look and sound traditional in Osborne’s medieval garb, accompanied by Salisbury’s lute-twinged music. But thanks to Harvey’s intelligent interpretation, it truly feels like nothing of the sort. It’s less of a rallying cry against warmongering and more of a thought-provoking meditation on the morality of conflict. And in these times of brutal dictators and their playground bully tactics, perhaps that’s exactly what we need.”
To book tickets visit: https://www.rsc.org.uk/henry-v/