Propelled into excellence

The Belgrade may be in Coventry, but it is well worth a visit; every bit as beautiful as our own arts centre (with something more of that charm of a local theatre that doesn’t have our renown; there’s still cheap sandwiches for sale, for example, and pantomimes) and even has some incredible productions of its own including Propeller’s latest two shows. Henry V was their first play and The Winter’s Tale one of their most successful, and now they are rehauling and reinventing the former and bringing a new cast and breath of fresh air to the latter.

Henry V takes the classic legend of Agincourt and transposes it into the field of some timeless, ambiguous war, an eclectic era that treads the fine line between ambiguous and sloppily designed, and then topples over into the realms of the ludicrous; French soldiers have a rather weirdly crafted version of police riot gear, Henry runs out with a sword and gauntlet, other soldiers wield bats whilst some carry other more traditional fare. What it appears like is not a mark on the timeless nature of man’s desire to wage war, but more a desperate scrabble by the costume department to piece together a performance. The set too, whilst bare and mercantile so that it can be adapted for a history cycle in years to come (the first to be done by an independent company in the UK, which is a thrilling prospect) also just reeks at times of lazy attempts to seem timeless, with its iron rig and punching bags just exuding a masculinity and simplicity that one felt the script should really be left to express. The play- a heady mix of Shakespearean slapstick, a bit of clever disguising and lots of warfare vignettes- is probably not my favourite of the Bard’s works, lacking something of the intrigue and humanity of his other plays. Whilst they worked to make Henry less flawless as a character, the effect was not visible in Dugald Bruce-Lockhart’s performance, who gurned and flounced his way through the play with a rather infuriating sing-song rendition of the verse, as if recounting nursery rhymes. It was so very confusing that he be so noxious as Hal, considering that as Antigonus in The Winter’s Tale he was loaded with sympathy as a star of bravery in a corrupt court (although maybe, had he lasted beyond the interval, my temper would have frayed similarly as he still enjoyed ending his speeches like they were radio jingles.)

In general the performances in The Winter’s Tale were stronger and more potent than those seen in Henry V. Both played with the all-male company adopting the female roles as Shakespeare’s company once would, and whilst the female characters in Henry V were never able to risk seeming human (although Karl Davies as Katherine was sensationally feisty and not always in a camp way) the women of The Winter’s Tale sit both sides; the ladies of Bohemia, sans Perdita, are all romping drag queens with a love of performing Beyonce-inspired versions of the songs within the text. However, as soon as one returns to the court of Leontes the characters of Hermione and Paulina are exquisitely performed. Richard Dempsey as Hermione may be one of my favourite performances by an actor ever, and Paulina- played by the man who embodied the feisty and foolish Pistol in Henry- stands out not only as a powerhouse performance, but as a powerhouse part that has real meat to it, the mark of somebody really engaging with the words they have before them. Whilst Leontes was not always my cup of tea, nor was Florizel at times, the energy of Autolycus was mindblowing, especially having seen him play a drawn in and yet volcanic Fluellen. The shepherds were also hilarious, and as a general rule of thumb, although the shift between conceptual and dark first half and campy Woodstock of the second did not always sit well, rather like being subjected to a course of marshmallows in between two rich beef stews- it not only highlighted the fascinating divide in Shakespeare’s own writing, but also made for some fascinating moments in the show.

The Winter’s Tale ticked all my boxes; unusual musical scoring, beautiful costumes and set that really captured a mood without setting it in a historical canon, fantastic acting and enough laughs and tears to make the price worth it. However, Henry V felt sloppily thrown together at times, often unenjoyable, and its scoring lazy; the decision to use every slightly laddish pop/rock song of the last forty years in an attempt to highlight the band-of-brothers-esque elements could not have been less exciting. If you have a chance, see the former; the time that they have had to develop their knowledge of the script over the years is telling and welcomed, whilst Henry, in an attempt to be exciting, just feels a bit slapdash.