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The most stirring portrayal I can remember of Shakespeare’s King Henry V is the one by a woman, McLean Peterson, in Smith Street Stage’s current production at Carroll Park. Is that ironic?
No. It is not ironic. Acting is pretending you’re someone else, distinctions and identities like gender be damned. And that’s all I’m going to say about it.
The production’s merits go beyond hard-hitting performances. Artistic director Jonathan Hopkins’ staging encompasses the antic and the noble, the violent and the honorable, the grubby and the regal. Under Sunday evening’s threatening sky (the original opening night had been rained out) a cast of 11, many playing multiple roles, served up the meat of Shakespeare’s Henry V with force, élan, and glowing humor. Their portrayals are both emotionally deep and, where appropriate, overflowingly comic.
A significant erasure in this abridged version is the subplot involving the French ruling family, especially Katharine and her proposed betrothal to the English king as part of France’s peacemaking. Without the princess, we lose the charming scene showing her attempt to learn the parts of the body in English.
If you didn’t know the play, though, you wouldn’t feel anything was missing. This staging retains plenty of high spirits to balance out the serious matters of war and honor. It’s got Shakespeare’s unsurpassed understanding of the dynamics of class. And crucially, it has actors who can imbue Shakespeare’s semi-archaic language with sensitivity, flow, and sass.
Harry the Magnificent
Leading the consistently good cast is Peterson’s stalwart and mesmerizing Henry. Whether motivating his forces with inspiring speechifying, visiting with his soldiers in disguise, bewailing the loss of trust when a plot against him is uncovered, or engaging with audience members by eye contact, he compels attention.
Another standout is Oliver Palmer, first as a hilarious Archbishop of Canterbury machine-gunning a history lesson, and later as Fluellen, Shakespeare’s stereotyped Welshman cleverly interpreted here as a southern American rube. Derek Chariton is sterling as a half-addled Pistol, Bobbie Edmunds blithely touching as Mistress Quickly reporting the offstage death of Sir John Falstaff.
Those playing characters with less depth to work with come off equally well, including Angel Lu as the loyal Gloucester, Bryce Foley as Nym, and Will Sarratt as Montjoy. But there are really no weak links, right down to Vann Dukes as the floundering page known only as Boy.
Hopkins makes excellent use of a wide building in the park as backdrop, and of the open spaces in front of it and around the audience as staging areas. During many scenes we feel like we’re in the midst of the action. Live music further carries us away into the story. Exciting combat, vivid characterizations, convincing depictions of the haves and the have-nots – this production has everything.
Well, except the French royals. But I’m not complaining. It’s all “for Harry, England, and St. George,” right? Anyway it’s a rollicking, bang-up show, maybe the best I’ve ever seen from an always high-quality company.
See Smith Street Stage’s Henry V at Carroll Park in Brooklyn, Thursdays through Sundays through June 29, 2025. It’s free, but consider arriving early since seating is limited to, well, not so much more than a happy few.
