...Webster is more interested in using the play as a study in national identity. That’s as valid as any other approach, but what’s problematic is the sledgehammer tactic.
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The show exemplifies how the meaning of a theatrical production can change radically. A day can make all the difference. Make no doubt: this Henry V is historic in more ways than one.
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Harington is charismatic as the title character, making this distressed character and unsympathetic king likable...Harington takes “Harry” from his boyish partying days into his power-hungry battle cries seamlessly, and there are few actors who can deliver a Shakespearean line as well as he.
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...Webster’s is the first production I’ve ever seen to approach ‘Henry V’ as a great character study...Probably, he slightly flatters the play. But at the end of the day he gets away with it, in a broodingly impressive production.
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Henry V is immensely mutable: it’s not only what it has to tell us, it’s what it has been made to say over the years that’s striking...Not an all-out triumph but a victory nonetheless.
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At any time, this production would look ill-considered and overblown, despite Harington’s impressive performance. Right now, it’s too much.
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What Max Webster's modern-dress production proves is how many ways Henry V can be interpreted, revealing Shakespeare's uncanny understanding of the brutalising effects of any war.
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For members of the Game of Thrones fan club, it’s also an opportunity to see what Kit Harington (alias Jon Snow) makes of the warrior role. Is he up to the challenge? The answer is a resounding yes.
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