Despite my initial excitement, this turned out to be the least interesting part of The Hollow Crown. Admittedly, my judgement is somewhat clouded by Jamie Parker's magnificent performance at the Globe Theatre, but I simply did not get the kick out of this production that the play would normally deliver.
Let's get the bad stuff out of the way first. Using Henry's funeral as the opening scene completely altered the tone, bringing one of depression and futility to the whole show. Secondly, I felt the cutting choices were very poor indeed. Cutting out the Southampton scene with the three traitors felt like a mistake, for that scene provides a lot of insight into the brutality of Henry V. This brings me onto my third point: Tom Hiddleston's performance. I understand that with regard to the performance history behind this character, which includes Laurence Olivier, Richard Burton and Kenneth Brannagh, it is very difficult to make this role ones own and by extension do something new with it. Hiddleston attempts this and fails rather miserably. It's just embarrassing when he states that his soldiers 'stand like greyhounds in the slips' and then it cuts to the soldiers looking uninspired and frightened. Similarly, the St. Crispin's Day speech had the potential to be incredible, because the army was standing nearby ready to be inspired. Jamie Parker can afford to underplay this speech due to the theatrical values, having to make the audience his army instead of having a real one. Hiddleston has the men, but instead chooses to whisper to his Lords, thereby completely killing the drama and excitement of the scene.
In contrast to this, I thought that Pistol, Bardolph and Nym were played superbly. The farewell scene outside the Boar's Head almost brought me to tears, with the cold, silent delivery of the lines being totally appropriate to the tone of the scene. Similarly, I thought that the caution of the French King and the petulance of the Dauphin were very well acted and portrayed. The scenery of the campaign was also very well selected and filmed, although frankly the final battle was a bit thin, and lacked the adrenaline and terror that was so well delivered in Henry IV Part I.
On the whole, I found the whole production just disappointing. After the stunningly compelling adaptation of Richard II, Henry V simply doesn't do enough for a finale. The whole thing just feels a bit limp, and in a play of this magnitude and fame, regardless of interpretation, you simply cannot scrimp on production values or acting ability. Intense tragedies can do this and it works, but Henry V is BIG, and as such one should really pull out all the stops when tackling it.
Let's get the bad stuff out of the way first. Using Henry's funeral as the opening scene completely altered the tone, bringing one of depression and futility to the whole show. Secondly, I felt the cutting choices were very poor indeed. Cutting out the Southampton scene with the three traitors felt like a mistake, for that scene provides a lot of insight into the brutality of Henry V. This brings me onto my third point: Tom Hiddleston's performance. I understand that with regard to the performance history behind this character, which includes Laurence Olivier, Richard Burton and Kenneth Brannagh, it is very difficult to make this role ones own and by extension do something new with it. Hiddleston attempts this and fails rather miserably. It's just embarrassing when he states that his soldiers 'stand like greyhounds in the slips' and then it cuts to the soldiers looking uninspired and frightened. Similarly, the St. Crispin's Day speech had the potential to be incredible, because the army was standing nearby ready to be inspired. Jamie Parker can afford to underplay this speech due to the theatrical values, having to make the audience his army instead of having a real one. Hiddleston has the men, but instead chooses to whisper to his Lords, thereby completely killing the drama and excitement of the scene.
In contrast to this, I thought that Pistol, Bardolph and Nym were played superbly. The farewell scene outside the Boar's Head almost brought me to tears, with the cold, silent delivery of the lines being totally appropriate to the tone of the scene. Similarly, I thought that the caution of the French King and the petulance of the Dauphin were very well acted and portrayed. The scenery of the campaign was also very well selected and filmed, although frankly the final battle was a bit thin, and lacked the adrenaline and terror that was so well delivered in Henry IV Part I.
On the whole, I found the whole production just disappointing. After the stunningly compelling adaptation of Richard II, Henry V simply doesn't do enough for a finale. The whole thing just feels a bit limp, and in a play of this magnitude and fame, regardless of interpretation, you simply cannot scrimp on production values or acting ability. Intense tragedies can do this and it works, but Henry V is BIG, and as such one should really pull out all the stops when tackling it.