Shakespeare's Henry V (1990, Michael Bogdanov) pt 2 of 17 Video

Shakespeare's "King Henry V" from "The War of the Roses" (English Shakespeare Company, UK, 1990) is a direct filming, from the stage, of Michael Bogdanov and Michael Pennington's 7-play sequence based on Shakespeare's history plays.

Chorus - Barry Stanton
Henry Prince of Wales - Michael Pennington
Hugh Sullivan - Canterbury
Ben Bazell - Westmoreland
Ian Burford - Exeter

Director Michael Bogdanov

Commentary By Edward Everett Hale:

The chorus was a traditional feature in the drama of the Greeks and Romans. There it served various purposes, but it was especially a means whereby the dramatist could speak directly to the audience. It was natural, therefore, to use it to give in narrative an account of things that could not well be presented by the actors. It was common also in those plays before Shakespeare which were written with classic models in mind. Thus "Gorboduc", written about 1565 by Sackville and Norton, is not unlike a Latin tragedy, and indeed is, in its dramatic character, directly imitated from Seneca. It has a regular chorus between the acts. But so has the "Spanish Tragedy", by Thomas Kyd, which is not at all classic in its general character. Shakespeare, as a rule, does not use the chorus. Sometimes he has a prologue, as in "Henry VIII", or an epilogue, as in the second part of "Henry IV".

In "Henry V" there are choruses between the acts called prologues to the acts. In "Pericles" there are choruses between the acts and also in the middle of Acts IV and V. In "Romeo and Juliet" Shakespeare may have meant to have choruses between the acts, but actually there is only a prologue, and a chorus between Acts I and II. Generally Shakespeare accomplishes the purpose of the chorus in some other way. The chorus, however, is very appropriate to the rhetorical character of the English historical play, and perhaps Shakespeare had something of the sort in mind when he planned "Henry V". It is worth mentioning that so great a Shakespearean actor as David Garrick chose the part of Chorus when he presented "Henry V". He understood that the characteristic quality of the play was its sonorous trumpet-flourish, and that this quality inhered essentially in the choruses. It is also worth noting that when Mr. Mansfield presented the play in New York, Chorus was so presented as to attract everybody, indeed astonish everybody by its appreciation of the possibilities of the part.