http://phantomcranefly.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] phantomcranefly.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] a_t_rain 2010-08-09 01:53 am (UTC)

I just saw the Kenneth Branagh version over the weekend, and having something to compare it to makes it easier to explain how my school's production differed. (My apologies in advance for geeking out at you.)

During the traitor scene, Henry seemed much more grieved than angry (so the shouting and throwing people around in the movie came as quite a surprise to me :) ). Cambridge fell to his knees on "your highness' mercy" and Scroop and Gray followed him on "to which we all appeal". At some point around "thou that didst bear the key of all my counsels" Henry reached his hand to Scroop and pulled him up. He sounded genuinely heartbroken and bewildered in the "why so didst thou" speech, and turned away on "hear your sentence" as though he couldn't stand to look at them anymore.

He had pretty much the same reaction to the news of Bardolph's crime (although there were fewer lines for it to fit into, so it felt shorter and less noticeable) - they cut the description and had him come onstage, and Henry just kind of looked at him- sad, and I kind of got the sense he wished there was any other way out, but couldn't see one. He finally said "We would have all offenders so cut off" and Bardolph walked slowly to the other door, handing his pair of scissors sword back to Chorus as he passed. Only after the door closed did Henry keep going with "and we give express charge" as though he'd just remembered it.

Post a comment in response:

This account has disabled anonymous posting.
If you don't have an account you can create one now.
HTML doesn't work in the subject.
More info about formatting