What: Henry V
Where: Metro Studio, 1411 Quadra St.
When: Today, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2
Rating: 3 stars (out of five)
Henry V isn't usually what people bargain for when attending the Victoria Fringe Theatre Festival. Too heavy, too 聟 Shakespeare-y.
Well, don't despair. This lively, unpretentious little production from Victoria聮s KeepItSimple Theatre Productions is worth a look. The solid direction wisely stresses the essentials and some of the acting is good.
Although abridged to 100 minutes, we聮re still talking serious Shakespeare here. Henry V is one of the Bard聮s history plays, in which Henry 聴 formerly a Falstaffian rapscallion 聴 is now all grown up and ready to invade France. Unrelentingly brave and determined to overcome tremendous odds, Hal is an Elizabethan superhero 聴 a bit like Batman or Spiderman, but without the goofy mask.
Director David Christopher (who plays several roles) has focused on the basics, and it pays off. The cast articulates its lines clearly and with gusto. On Thursday night some actors 聴 notably Chris Harris and Andrew Axhorn 聴 mustered up real fire, making their performances exciting and real. As Henry, Ryan Levis didn聮t entirely capture the charisma and Machiavellian drive the role requires. Yet he certainly had fine moments. Levis聮s football-team heartiness and humour when delivering the famous St. Crispan聮s Day speech (when Henry inspires his troops to battle despite being outnumbered) worked very well, with a naturalistic charm all its own.
The show聮s biggest misstep is the awful French accents. The king of France sounded Irish; members of his court sounded Spanish. Yet, overall, this is a strong community-theatre effort from a promising company.
