The Enigmatic, Charismatic Henry V

“I think the king is but a man, as I am: the violet smells to him as it doth to me: the element shows to him as it doth to me; all his senses have but human conditions…”

—King Henry V, Act IV, sc. I

In 2018, OSF is reaching the end of a deeply intimate look at the four-play cycle that makes up the Henriad—Richard II; Henry IV, Parts One and Two; and Henry V. When completed, all four plays will have been presented in the Thomas Theatre, the Festival’s smallest performance space. Daniel José Molina will again lead the cast of Henry V in a season-long run, capping off Hal’s journey from dissolute young prince to English monarch leading his troops to hard-fought victory over France.

While the Henriad is rife with various themes of power struggles, legitimacy of war, family relations and rights of succession, perhaps the most stirring through-line—and most relevant to a modern audience—is “what makes a good leader?” Put another way, how does one guide one’s country while adhering to a moral and spiritual compass that is true?

Seattle-based director Rosa Joshi is making her OSF debut with next year’s production of Henry V. “One of the things we’re following in Henry V is what kind of leader do we need today? And what are the extraordinarily difficult things our leaders need to do?” observed Joshi in a talk with OSF staff. “Compared to Hamlet or Richard III, Hal/Henry is much more of an enigma. There are moments where we see a crack in the exterior, most notably in the ‘I know you all’ speech from Henry IV, Part One. The fascinating part for the audience is we have to watch him grow into a leader and figure him out based on his actions and the person we saw in the earlier plays, because he won’t be telling us in a monologue ‘here’s what’s going on with me.’ ”

In an interview shortly after opening Henry IV, Part Two in July, Molina said, “My starting point in attacking this character is his inherent duality. The harsh banishment of Falstaff in Henry IV, Part Two and the execution of Bardolph in Henry V are completely justified. That’s the problem: King Henry must do these things, but Hal has to pull the trigger, so to speak. They are both inside him, as well as an incredible amount of doubt and fear. Look at the ‘Upon the king’ speech: ‘Who am I to do this? Who would want this job?’ But Henry V cannot show doubt. This conflict is an integral part of his character and the play.”

“Upon the king! let us our lives, our souls,
Our debts, our careful wives,
Our children and our sins lay on the king!
We must bear all.”

                              —King Henry V, Act IV, sc. I

Festival veteran Tyrone Wilson, currently in his 23rd season, will be the only actor to appear in all four plays of the Henriad during this current cycle. While he has played different characters in the four plays—Bushy and ensemble in Richard II; Northumberland, Sheriff and ensemble in Henry IV, Part One and Northumberland, Snare and Warwick in Henry IV, Part Two (as well as understudy performances as Falstaff); and coming up, Exeter and ensemble in Henry V—that variety of roles has given him a larger perspective on the Henriad.

“Leadership takes a person of a balanced nature,” Wilson observes. “I think Hal becomes a good leader because he connects with the people. He comes to understand the balance between leading and empathy. He’s also learned from the mistakes of those before him. Looking ahead to Henry V, I think we follow him because we have faith that he cares as much about the commoner as he does about the royals. He seeks to govern all the people; not just pacify the well-to-do.”

Throughout history, we have seen nascent leaders face the ultimate rite of passage with their first foray into war. While it’s not uncommon for productions of Henry V to lean into the patriotic “Cry ‘God for Harry, England, and Saint George!’ ” theme, Shakespeare, in his genius, left plenty of room for interpretation. 

“Is this a patriotic play? Is this an anti-war play?” asked director Joshi in the talk. “I think it’s neither. It’s a play about the fact that war is neither good nor bad, it just is. I would like to explore what the human cost of war is in the play, in terms of whether the war is a necessary war.”

“Shakespeare takes us from the foot soldiers who don’t even really know why they’re going to war but are ready to follow this young king, to the middle managers of war, the captains, Gower and Fluellen, to the nobles who are protecting their lands and their wealth, to Henry, who is responsible for leading the war. He gives us this fantastic diorama or Rubik’s Cube view of that world from all those different perspectives. At every level we’re seeing how people behave in war, and what the impact of war is on them, all while we’re following the journey of this young king.”

Molina similarly appreciates the different lenses through which one can view the warfare depicted in the play. “It would be a stretch to say that this play isn’t about patriotism,” he says. “It tugs at my heartstrings, and I’m not even English. I always like to think about what it must have been like to have seen Olivier’s Henry V film in 1944, after Normandy, in the wake of the Battle of Britain—another decisive English victory against impossible odds. But the play’s patriotism isn’t exclusive to the English, because it is a piece about the men and women who serve to protect their country, and more importantly, each other. All of them. The high and lowborn. All in one trench, together.”

“But this is not a pro-war play,” continues Molina. “It’s not an anti-war play. It’s both. The sublimely heroic and the unspeakable horrors of war are both present. I think this complexity is another example of Shakespeare’s humanism and modernism.”

Wilson adds, “I think everyone takes what they will from the plays, and there are many intentions being expressed. I focus on the moment-to-moment interaction between myself and the other actors and the audience. I hope that reality is speaking in some way, because I am of this time and so are they. For some folks, the play is an escape; for others, it’s a reflection of the here and now. I love that it can be both.”

Henry IV, Parts One and Two run through October 28 and 29, respectively.
Henry V runs February 21–October 27.