Fun and Games

SCENE VII. Another part of the field.

EXETER

Soldier, you must come to the king.

KING HENRY V

Soldier, why wearest thou that glove in thy cap? slight sarcasm, its a game 

WILLIAMS

An't please your majesty, 'tis the gage of one that

I should fight withal, if he be alive.

KING HENRY V

An Englishman? still game like 

WILLIAMS

An't please your majesty, a rascal that swaggered

with me last night; who, if alive and ever dare to

challenge this glove, I have sworn to take him a box

o' th' ear: or if I can see my glove in his cap,

which he swore, as he was a soldier, he would wear

if alive, I will strike it out soundly.

KING HENRY V

What think you, Captain Fluellen? is it fit this   still slightly sarcastic, brings Fluellen into his game, Volume 

soldier keep his oath?                                            slightly rises as he is calling Captain Fluellen, tempo is natural

FLUELLEN

He is a craven and a villain else, an't please your

majesty, in my conscience.

KING HENRY V

It may be his enemy is a gentleman of great sort, emphasis as he is referring to himself,  giving clues 

quite from the answer of his degree.

FLUELLEN

Though he be as good a gentleman as the devil is, as        Henry takes in what Fluellen is saying, it is here Henry 

Lucifer and Belzebub himself, it is necessary, look           thinks of giving Fluellen the glove. 

your grace, that he keep his vow and his oath: if              

he be perjured, see you now, his reputation is as

arrant a villain and a Jacksauce, as ever his black

shoe trod upon God's ground and his earth, in my

conscience, la!

KING HENRY V

Then keep thy vow, sirrah, when thou meetest the fellow.

WILLIAMS

So I will, my liege, as I live.

KING HENRY V

Who servest thou under?       Henry wants to crack on with his plan so sends Soldier away 

WILLIAMS

Under Captain Gower, my liege.

FLUELLEN

Gower is a good captain, and is good knowledge and

literatured in the wars.

KING HENRY V

Call him hither to me, soldier. direct, dismissed

WILLIAMS

I will, my liege.

Exit

KING HENRY V

Here, Fluellen; wear thou this favour for me and Tempo is fast, instruction, background information, volume

stick it in thy cap: when Alencon and myself were personal

down together, I plucked this glove from his helm:

if any man challenge this, he is a friend to

Alencon, and an enemy to our person; if thou  important instruction, direct, personal

encounter any such, apprehend him, an thou dost me love.

FLUELLEN

Your grace doo's me as great honours as can be

desired in the hearts of his subjects: I would fain

see the man, that has but two legs, that shall find

himself aggrieved at this glove; that is all; but I

would fain see it once, an please God of his grace

that I might see.

KING HENRY V

Knowest thou Gower?

FLUELLEN

He is my dear friend, an please you.

KING HENRY V

Pray thee, go seek him, and bring him to my tent. direct, dismissing Fluellen, tempo is faster 

FLUELLEN

I will fetch him.

Exit

KING HENRY V

My brother Gloucester, direct, volume is personal

Follow Fluellen closely at the heels: tempo fast 

The glove which I have given him for a favour

May haply purchase him a box o' th' ear;

It is the soldier's; I by bargain should

Wear it myself. Follow, good brother Gloucester: direct, order 

If that the soldier strike him, as I judge

By his blunt bearing he will keep his word,

Some sudden mischief may arise of it;

For I do know Fluellen valiant

And, touched with choler, hot as gunpowder,

And quickly will return an injury:

Follow and see there be no harm between them. direct, order

Go you with me, uncle of Exeter. direct, order 

Exeunt

Henry sees the soldier Michael Williams, the soldier that he argued with and exchanged gloves with the night before. Henry plays a game between Williams and Fluellen when he gives Williams’s glove to Fluellen and tells him to wear on his cap, Henry states that he won it valiantly from Alencons helmet when they were fighting and that anyone who attacks Fluellen over it must be a traitor. Henry then goes after them to see the game unravel. This is a fun scene where Henry after his victory becomes a little bit looser and enjoys some fun at Fluellen and Williams expense. 

Transition in volume and tempo

SCENE VII. Another part of the field.

GOWER

Here comes his majesty.

Alarum. Enter KING HENRY impact, haste in walk, slight pace, and forces; WARWICK, GLOUCESTER, EXETER, and others

KING HENRY V

I was not angry since I came to France I, emphasis on angry and France, volume is loud and powerful 

Until this instant. Take a trumpet, herald; ‘Take a trumpet Herald’-direct, emphasis on instant  and take 

Ride thou unto the horsemen on yon hill: I, direct, tempo is fast 

If they will fight with us, bid them come down, I

Or void the field; they do offend our sight: I

If they'll do neither, we will come to them, I 

And make them skirr away, as swift as stones  I, emphasis on the three s

Enforced from the old Assyrian slings: I

Besides, we'll cut the throats of those we have, I, pause after the besides for thought

And not a man of them that we shall take I, slightly savage, anger had taken over

Shall taste our mercy. Go and tell them so. I hang on mercy, direct and dismissive ‘tell them so’ 

Enter ONTJOY

EXETER

Here comes the herald of the French, my liege.

GLOUCESTER

His eyes are humbler than they used to be.

KING HENRY V

How now! what means this, herald? know'st thou not questions, lighter side of anger 

That I have fined these bones of mine for ransom? after ‘fined’ volume starts to rise emphasising anger 

Comest thou again for ransom? Volume loud, questions 

Tension between Henry and Montjoy 

MONTJOY

No, great king:

I come to thee for charitable licence,

That we may wander o'er this bloody field           Henry calms down, he listens to Monjoy and can take into 

To look our dead, and then to bury them;             account what he is saying. He sees the images Montjoy is painting

To sort our nobles from our common men.          and strips this angry, proud and snappy demeanour into more of  

For many of our princes--woe the while!—         a approachable slightly vulnerable one.

Lie drown'd and soak'd in mercenary blood;

So do our vulgar drench their peasant limbs

In blood of princes; and their wounded steeds

Fret fetlock deep in gore and with wild rage

Yerk out their armed heels at their dead masters,

Killing them twice. O, give us leave, great king,

To view the field in safety and dispose

Of their dead bodies!

KING HENRY V

I tell thee truly, herald, softer in voice, lower in volume, direct 

I know not if the day be ours or no; I,sincere, looking for answer 

For yet a many of your horsemen peer I, 

And gallop o'er the field. waits for answer 

MONTJOY

The day is yours.

PAUSE to take in victory 

KING HENRY V

Praised be God, and not our strength, for it! I, volume loud, happiness, Henry is victorious, he is in his element 

PAUSE, see the castle 

What is this castle call'd that stands hard by? I, questions, tempo is slow, volume is natural 

MONTJOY

They call it Agincourt.

KING HENRY V

Then call we this the field of Agincourt, I.proud, standing his ground, announcing to all, tempo slow, volume rising 

Fought on the day of Crispin Crispianus.- extremely emphasised, volume risen and loud, strong, bask in the Crispin Crispianus moment 

In this scene Henry goes up and down with his emotions, feeling angry towards the start and relief and fulfilment towards the end. Henry starts off of a fast spinning wheel of revenge and frustration, a fast paced motion that is hard to stop, when Herald/ Montjoy comes in he puts a slight spanner in this wheel slowing him down and calming him, with his reflection and thoughts on the current war. After listening to Montjoy, it is revealed that Henry just wants to know what is going on as he doesn't even know if he has won the war or not. When he finds out he has won all the tension in his body and all the anger in his voice and face leaves as he is overcome with pride. Volume and tempo are important in this scene as the fast paced tempo and high volume transition into the softer volume and slower tempo the audience can see just the impact of the war and revelation. 

Henry and Exeter

SCENE VI. Another part of the field.

Alarums. Enter KING HENRY and forces, EXETER, and others

KING HENRY V

Well have we done, thrice valiant countrymen: motivation, complement emphasis on valiant 

But all's not done; yet keep the French the field. Iambic Pentameter, instruction follows emphasis on keep  

( Volume is loud as in battlefield and trying to reach his voice to all his men with motivation but also instruction) 

EXETER

The Duke of York commends him to your majesty.

KING HENRY V

Lives he, good uncle? thrice within this hour questions, eager, emphasis on thrice (thrice- three times) 

I saw him down; thrice up again and fighting; emphasis on thrice 

From helmet to the spur all blood he was. I, see the image, tempos is fast, volume is personal 

EXETER

In which array, brave soldier, doth he lie,            H is emotional throughout this monologue, one of my closest 

Larding the plain; and by his bloody side,           friends has been killed on the battle field and i can see 

Yoke-fellow to his honour-owing wounds,          the image Exeter is describing to me. The visual of 

The noble Earl of Suffolk also lies.                     Henry is more vulnerable, and saddened. The posture is

Suffolk first died: and York, all haggled over,     more relaxed and not as strong. 

Comes to him, where in gore he lay insteep'd,

And takes him by the beard; kisses the gashes

That bloodily did spawn upon his face;

And cries aloud 'Tarry, dear cousin Suffolk!

My soul shall thine keep company to heaven;

Tarry, sweet soul, for mine, then fly abreast,

As in this glorious and well-foughten field

We kept together in our chivalry!'

Upon these words I came and cheer'd him up:

He smiled me in the face, raught me his hand,

And, with a feeble gripe, says 'Dear my lord,

Commend my service to me sovereign.'

So did he turn and over Suffolk's neck

He threw his wounded arm and kiss'd his lips;

And so espoused to death, with blood he seal'd

A testament of noble-ending love.

The pretty and sweet manner of it forced

Those waters from me which I would have stopp'd;

But I had not so much of man in me,

And all my mother came into mine eyes

And gave me up to tears.

KING HENRY V

I blame you not; an emotional moment between Henry and Exeter, Henry reassures him, tender voice, voice is lower, emphasis on blame 

For, hearing this, I must perforce compound  I, emphasis on perforce (  perforce- necessary) 

With mistful eyes, or they will issue too. I, emphasis on mistful and issue, tempo is slower 

Alarum

But, hark! what new alarum is this same? I, tempo fastens, volume rises, emphasis on hark and alarum 

The French have reinforced their scatter'd men: I, emphasis on reinforced and French, haste in voice

Then every soldier kill his prisoners: I, anger, volume is loud this is directed to all his men 

Give the word through. strong, abrupt, direct 

Exeunt- with haste 

This is an emotional scene between Henry and Exeter, the two have lost a mutual close friend and the way in which Exeter describes the death is very emotional and hard to relive. We see a softer side to Henry, where the strong confident leader is saddened and slightly vulnerable, but this quickly changes to revenge and anger when the sound of the Alarum comes and he sees that the French are getting ready to fight harder. Volume and Tone are very important in this scene because if done right can make certain parts incredibly strong such as the transition from an emotional and lower voice and tempo when comforting Exeter to the rise of tempo and loud volume when he sees the reinforced French. 

Battle scene

The battle scene is physically and creatively engaging with its response to the reality of WW1. The use of levels incorporate the set, the tables and the placing of the props to create a slight abstract but also slightly realistic visual for the audience, painting this picture of men going off to war and fighting. The cast come up and over the table this is responding to the reality of the trenches, hills and various bits of land the men had to walk through and over. The approach to this sequence was a light one, The war would have been messy and violent and instead of taking the obvious and literal route, artistic images were choreographed enabling the audience to use their imagination and the aid of the visual of men passing each other with guns to picture the war. 

Physicality is an incredibly important role throughout this play, and comes into practice particularly in this scene. The physicality has to be brought back to the previous exercise on being a man and incorporating all the attributes and physical manurisms into the battle. In the physicality there needs to be a strength in the arms carrying the gun, tension in the body, slight space between the legs, broad shoulders, heavier footing and strong facial expressions. If this physicality drops the sequence becomes less strong in its effectiveness, so applying these attributes to this scene is fundamental. This is a challenge because you're thinking about many things such as the play itself, your role, your lines, the choreography in the scene and your physicality which is incredibly important but difficult as its so far from your normal physicality (completely different gender). Energy plays a big part in maintaining the effectiveness of the physicality and if we work in a team and keep the energy high we can bounce off each other and all in all create a visually effective scene. 

I really like the sequence and think it works really nicely in the play, offering a silent moment to just watch and interpret. There were parts of the sequence I found difficult as it came down to timing and teamwork which had to be built up with confidence over time, but when I got a hold of it and everyone was on the same page it really worked and became natural. The main factor in this piece is teamwork, in response to the literal these men had to work together and by showing that bond and ultimately trusting and uplifting each other we get the best out of this scene.

Analysis of Henry V performance- Kenneth Branagh

I watched Kenneth Branagh's performance as Henry V in the 1989 adaption of Henry V, paying particular focus to the Crispin day speech which i have been looking at. In his performance of this particular speech I found his choices in voice and physicality inspiring as he embodied a powerful king and in captured the meaning of the speech. 

I found a certain elegance in his posture and his voice felt natural and proud, the delivery was inspiring and was done in a way that was light but powerful, this gave the impression of a friendly relationship between him and the people he was talking to (his knights, battle men). The confidence of his character were shown not only through posture and the way he stood such as broad shoulders and open arms but parts where he would have a casual walk but be delivering his voice on a loud scale pronouncing each word and emphasising words that carried a powerful hit. The pronunciation consisted of the rolling of R’s and the strong carry through from the beginning of the word to the word ending, for example the word Crispian/ Crispin was always a mixture of those two elements making a strong Ki sound carrying straight on the the rolling of the Ris and hitting the En sound at the end. 

Other parts of the speech that i was drawn to was towards the ending with ‘ we few, we happy few, we band of brothers’ this section of the king reassuring his subjects of their loyalty to him and his loyalty to them exudes a brotherly tone, gentle and slightly emotional, this is then followed by a rise in tempo and volume securing his final motivational push ‘And gentlemen in England now abed’ and is then ended with an emphasis on the words ‘Crispins day’, the elongation of the words Crispin and day close the speech and draw the attention of the audience to the name this results in its memorability. 

From this i can take so many elements of Branaghs performance and help it inspire me to deliver a similar feel for my version. Things to help me with my Crispins day performance:

• Differentiation in tone and volume 
• The brotherly and close relationship between the king and the people around him 
• Posture 
• Confidence 
• Natural feel 
• Emotion 
• Pronunciation of words, he is a King so speaks the best English 
• Strength and hitting of words and their endings 

Henry's Monologue

• The whole Speech is Inspirational 
• Henry Seeps Confidence and Power 
• Aims to praise highly and criticise darkly 
• The Speech belongs to a King 

Translation 

Who’s wishing that? My cousin Westmorland? No, my dear cousin, if we are marked down to die we are enough for our country to lose, and if marked down to live, the fewer the men the greater the share of honour. For the love of God, don’t wish for one man more. By Jove, I’m not interested in gold, nor do I care who eats at my expense. It doesn’t bother me who wears my clothes. Such outward things don’t come into my ambitions. But if it is a sin to long for honour I am the most offending soul alive. No, indeed, my cousin, don’t wish for another man from England. God’s peace, I wouldn’t lose as much honour as the share one man would take from me. No, don’t wish for one more. Rather proclaim to my army, Westmorland, that anyone who doesn’t have the stomach for this fight should leave now. He will be guaranteed free passage and travel money will be put in his purse. We would not like to die with any man who lacks the comradeship to die with us. This day is called the Feast of Crispian. He who outlives this day and gets home safely to reach old age will yearly on its anniversary celebrate with his neighbours and say, “Tomorrow is Saint Crispian.” Then he will roll up his sleeve and show his scars and say “I got these wounds on Crispin’s day.” Old men are forgetful, but even if he remembers nothing else he’ll remember, with embroideries, what feats he did that day. Then our names, as familiar in his mouth as household words – Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter, Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester – will be remembered in their toasts. This good man will teach his son, and Crispin Crispian will never pass from today until the end of the world without us being remembered: we few; we happy few; we band of brothers! The man who sheds his blood with me shall be my brother; however humble he may be, this day will elevate his status. And gentlemen in England, still lying in their beds, will think themselves accursed because they were not here, and be in awe while anyone speaks who fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.’

NOTES:

I decided to look at the whole speech instead of just looking at the shortened version that i say in the play, so that i could get a full understanding of what Henry is saying and everything he is trying to get across in this monologue. I get a deeper understanding from the full monologue, Henry is adamant that he does not want just anybody to fight this war with him, he wants men with fire in their bellies and a hunger for victory if they don't he would much rather them go home. The people who fight with him in this war are part of an elite group, his ‘brothers’ showing the enormous importance of his soldiers. Henry mocks the men that would hide away and states that they will later ‘think themselves accursed’ that they did not fight when Henry and his soldiers return victorious. 

Be A Man

I play Henry in Henry V so the physicality of my character is male, therefore I must change my natural feminine posture to that of a man. In our workshop The first thing we began to look at was the way that men hold themselves in a typical walk. From a general knowledge of how men are I picked up on the fact that men have broader shoulders and smaller waists, this impacts the walk making it stronger in the shoulder and torso, resulting in a more emphasised top half. Exploring the way men are physically was a new and insightful experience for me because I was made to use my body and hold my body in a complete different way to how I normally do. Applying a male physicality to a character that I am playing is a rare occasion as I normally play women, so i don't read that much into their physicality because I know how women stand and how women are in their overall presence, so this activity and role is challenging in the respect that i cant carry any aspects of myself into this character physically. I was made to look at the little things that make men different to women,men have different aspects of their anatomy such as a penis, broader shoulders, taller, bigger feet, shorter hair, no breasts ( maybe pecks), facial hair and body hair. Knowing the general differences allowed me to physicalise this so I began to walk around the space imagining having bigger feet and questioning how that would make me feel, or change my stride, it turned out that this made my walk heavier and more weighted. I would be making sure there was space in between my legs as I would have a penis there, how would that change the way I walked? I walked around the space imagining i had bigger and broader shoulders this changed my physicality as I was more hunched over and took up more space. Embodying all the small ideas helped me to successfully portray and internally believe in my male character.

Recognising the differences between male and female physicality was evident when I was walking around the space. For instance when I walk, I walk lightly, my posture is straight and confident, I evenly distribute my weight between both of my feet and sway my hips slightly.  When walking round the space as a man I realised that I was a lot more heavy when I walked, my posture was a little more slouched, my back became more curved and my head was more relaxed and rested on my neck. The space also feels completely different when you're being either sex, when you're female the space is a lot bigger and you feel smaller, you glide around the space. When you are physicalising a male the space becomes a lot smaller and so you become bigger and you take up more room as you walk around. 

Getting the basis of the male character was useful for the whole class as we can take that foundation and build on it with our own characters personal thoughts and physicality's. For instance my character Henry is a man so will inhabit all the General male  physicality's that we've already explored, but from that I can take away that foundation and start to add things such as the Regal and Wealthy aspect also with time and through more understanding of my character I can personify his thoughts and feelings at particular stages of the play as they will change the way he stands and delivers his speech.