henry v
This is my 20th year at McLennan College and as such, the last show of this season, Henry V, will be my 100th show that I've designed. It's a pretty neat milestone, so I thought I'd mention it here.
HENRY V by Shakespeare.
APRIL 27-29
7:30
Bosque River Stage
APRIL 27-29
7:30
Bosque River Stage
A TAle of Two Henrys:
MCC takes shakespeare outdoors with Henry V
By Carl Hoover [email protected] Apr. 26, 2017
Staff photo--Rod Aydelotte
King Henry V (Kaitlin Riley) takes on Lord Constable (Jonah Hardt) in McLennan Theatre's Henry V.
The number on the Shakespeare “Henry” this weekend at Bosque River Stage is five, but for the McLennan Theatre production that’s staged there it might be called a tale of two Henrys.
On Thursday and Friday, Henry’s a she. On Saturday, he’s a he.
The two Henrys in “Henry V” are the result of double-casting: Both Caitlin Riley and Eric Anderson had strong auditions for the lead role of the Shakespeare history, and directors Kelly Parker and Elizabeth Talbot opted to add rather than divide. “After much hemming and hawing, we decided, ‘Why not two Henrys?,’ ” said Parker, a McLennan Community College theater professor.
Riley will play Henry as a man, costumed as such and with no changes in the script outside of the usual editing and condensing done to bring a Shakespearean drama closer to the two-hour patience level of an American audience.
“Henry V,” one of Shakespeare’s 11 English history plays, follows a young King Henry V as he grows into his crown. He foils a plot to overthrow him, then takes his army to France, where they defeat a superior French force at the Battle of Agincourt. Romance also is in his royal skill set as he attempts to woo the French princess Catherine for both personal reasons and national considerations.
As much as any of Shakespeare’s histories, “Henry V” is a story of leadership and its responsibilities.
While the production remained true to the play’s plot and language, the directors found its physical staging required some changes. That, in turn, led to new angles of interpretation. Anderson is taller and larger than Riley, and blocking for him didn’t work for her, Parker said.
The king giving orders to his generals didn’t read the same way when she was speaking up to her subordinates. Similarly, swordplay and fighting scenes had to be reworked to make them more believable.
“It was almost two different shows to block,” Parker recalled. “It really caught us off-guard.” Changing the blocking shifted some characterization in the process. Anderson’s Henry V feels more like one of the guys; Riley’s has a greater perception of status and power. The two actors’ fighting styles also shaped their characters, with Riley more inclined to win by any means necessary, a knee to the groin rather than slashing sword stroke, which makes her seem slightly more ruthless, the director said.
“As in most Shakespeare, the play doesn’t reveal itself until you play it,” Parker said.
The scale of “Henry V” and McLennan Theatre’s short play runs made alternating Henrys a better option than preparing an understudy, who might not be called upon after doing the considerable work to memorize and prepare the part.
“Henry V” also presented a language challenge for its cast of some 30 actors: upper- and lower-class English accents, plus Scottish, Welsh and French ones. That’s where British-born and theatrically trained Talbot, an advising specialist in MCC’s student development office and a theater department adjunct, proved instrumental to the production.
Parker noted that Shakespearean histories aren’t as frequently performed in Waco as his comedies and a handful of his best-known dramas. “Henry V,” however, is as theatrically compelling as any of Shakespeare’s dramas and a personal favorite, he said. “This play hooked me into Shakespeare,” he said.
“Henry V” will be staged at MCC’s Bosque River Stage, an outdoor space with room for swordplay, with action presented in front of a large wall cobbled from worn and weathered wood fencing. The rough and uneven surface suggests what is happening in the history, Parker said.
“It’s war. It’s chaos. It’s fragmented lives,” he said.
King Henry V (Kaitlin Riley) takes on Lord Constable (Jonah Hardt) in McLennan Theatre's Henry V.
The number on the Shakespeare “Henry” this weekend at Bosque River Stage is five, but for the McLennan Theatre production that’s staged there it might be called a tale of two Henrys.
On Thursday and Friday, Henry’s a she. On Saturday, he’s a he.
The two Henrys in “Henry V” are the result of double-casting: Both Caitlin Riley and Eric Anderson had strong auditions for the lead role of the Shakespeare history, and directors Kelly Parker and Elizabeth Talbot opted to add rather than divide. “After much hemming and hawing, we decided, ‘Why not two Henrys?,’ ” said Parker, a McLennan Community College theater professor.
Riley will play Henry as a man, costumed as such and with no changes in the script outside of the usual editing and condensing done to bring a Shakespearean drama closer to the two-hour patience level of an American audience.
“Henry V,” one of Shakespeare’s 11 English history plays, follows a young King Henry V as he grows into his crown. He foils a plot to overthrow him, then takes his army to France, where they defeat a superior French force at the Battle of Agincourt. Romance also is in his royal skill set as he attempts to woo the French princess Catherine for both personal reasons and national considerations.
As much as any of Shakespeare’s histories, “Henry V” is a story of leadership and its responsibilities.
While the production remained true to the play’s plot and language, the directors found its physical staging required some changes. That, in turn, led to new angles of interpretation. Anderson is taller and larger than Riley, and blocking for him didn’t work for her, Parker said.
The king giving orders to his generals didn’t read the same way when she was speaking up to her subordinates. Similarly, swordplay and fighting scenes had to be reworked to make them more believable.
“It was almost two different shows to block,” Parker recalled. “It really caught us off-guard.” Changing the blocking shifted some characterization in the process. Anderson’s Henry V feels more like one of the guys; Riley’s has a greater perception of status and power. The two actors’ fighting styles also shaped their characters, with Riley more inclined to win by any means necessary, a knee to the groin rather than slashing sword stroke, which makes her seem slightly more ruthless, the director said.
“As in most Shakespeare, the play doesn’t reveal itself until you play it,” Parker said.
The scale of “Henry V” and McLennan Theatre’s short play runs made alternating Henrys a better option than preparing an understudy, who might not be called upon after doing the considerable work to memorize and prepare the part.
“Henry V” also presented a language challenge for its cast of some 30 actors: upper- and lower-class English accents, plus Scottish, Welsh and French ones. That’s where British-born and theatrically trained Talbot, an advising specialist in MCC’s student development office and a theater department adjunct, proved instrumental to the production.
Parker noted that Shakespearean histories aren’t as frequently performed in Waco as his comedies and a handful of his best-known dramas. “Henry V,” however, is as theatrically compelling as any of Shakespeare’s dramas and a personal favorite, he said. “This play hooked me into Shakespeare,” he said.
“Henry V” will be staged at MCC’s Bosque River Stage, an outdoor space with room for swordplay, with action presented in front of a large wall cobbled from worn and weathered wood fencing. The rough and uneven surface suggests what is happening in the history, Parker said.
“It’s war. It’s chaos. It’s fragmented lives,” he said.
cast list
Research
production notes
Kelly and I had a brief meeting yesterday to chose fabrics for the tabards for the English and French armies. I've ordered 23 yards each of the royal blue and red for the English and 30 yards of the light blue for the French. It was $3.50 a yard from Fabric Empire. As soon as it comes in, my class will begin building them while we have some down time waiting for the choreography process to evolve in the dance show.
Auditions will be held on Friday evening Feb. 3rd and continue on Feb. 4th.
Auditions will be held on Friday evening Feb. 3rd and continue on Feb. 4th.
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While we were waiting for the fabric to arrive, we made this mock up of the English tabards out of some donated poly twill I had laying around. Unfortunately the show won't be cast till the week before the spring semester starts, so I'll just guess on sizes: S, M, L, XL.
In the last two weeks of classes, my freshman made 24 tabards: 14 English and 10 French. Jason Sanchez has agreed to do the lion and fluer de lis detailing on them all and Mike Lewis will be adorning the doublets with chain mail half sleeves. Mike sent me two photos of half sleeves that he's been working on. We're going with the first knitting pattern, rather than the second option. Now we're discussing how we're going to attach them to the doublets. I used a leather punch to punch 8-10 holes around each armseye and we cut lacing to match and tipped it with aglets. We threaded the last row of chain onto the laces and wove it in and out of the holes in the doublets. Two knots in each end is all it needs to stay in place. |
tabard applique
Alum Shanna Tucker owns an embroidery machine so we have contracted her to do the fleur de lis and the lions on the French and English tabards. Her machine scans in the image that we want and then she cleans it up in its editing software, then the machine makes a video of how it plans to sew it. Here's her video of the fleur de lis. She will deliver the English tabards on Tuesday and pick up the French ones to do.
| fleurfdelisapplique.mp4 |
Kelly and I had a production meeting Wednesday, on the Ides of March. I now have all the information I need about how he's doubling roles and who need both English and French armour. As it turns out, we only need 16 chain mail sleeves which is 8 less that I originally told Mike. We're using all but one of the English tabards that we made last semester and all of the French ones. There are three soldiers who are lower social class who won't get any mail or the fancy tabards. At one point there will be as many as eight soldiers not in mail but because they play lords earlier, or play French soldiers later, they get the fancy armour.
Our casting has changed a bit. Kelly has double cast the role of Henry. Eric will play Henry half the performances, the other half, Kaitlyn will play Henry. We are adding a fourth performance during the day for schools to give them an even number of performances. So, Kaitlyn will no longer be Queen Isabel or the Chorus. The Queen will be recast and the Chorus role has been divvied up among the other female cast members. That means that Hannah, who is playing Alice, will need a second costume of English armour. We already have two women playing soldiers and a woman playing King Charles. I bought some more fabric for court costumes for the Henrys, Isabel, and Alice. Now it's time to start fittings.
Good Friday the campus was closed but I was still there working. In eight hours I got three doublets fitted, altered, and sleeves set in and hemmed and that's it. I had two students show up to help me, totally voluntary. Thanks to Sandra and Hannah for sewing for 8 hours to get these costumes finished. Sandra spent her eight hours serging and sewing a chemise and finishing the neck and sleeves with elastic. Hannah spent her eight hours finishing her surcote and then hemming more French tabards. Mike Lewis delivered all the short sleeves and one set of long sleeves chain mail. My husband even helped out by punching all the holes in the leather doublets so the sleeves can be laced into them as well as cutting custom laces and crimping aglets on to both lace up the doublets as well as lace the sleeves in. We did an amazing amount of work but there's still no end in sight.
We are also having to make two new crowns, one for King Charles and one for Henry (for Erik). Brice is making both of those out of sheet metal. The two crowns took Brice a total of 16.5 hours.
TOTAL COSTUME COUNT: 157 COSTUME PIECES, 109 ACCESSORIES
WORN BY 27 ACTORS
TOTAL MONEY SPENT: $908.93 +$538 LABOR +$171.00 DRY CLEANING
Our casting has changed a bit. Kelly has double cast the role of Henry. Eric will play Henry half the performances, the other half, Kaitlyn will play Henry. We are adding a fourth performance during the day for schools to give them an even number of performances. So, Kaitlyn will no longer be Queen Isabel or the Chorus. The Queen will be recast and the Chorus role has been divvied up among the other female cast members. That means that Hannah, who is playing Alice, will need a second costume of English armour. We already have two women playing soldiers and a woman playing King Charles. I bought some more fabric for court costumes for the Henrys, Isabel, and Alice. Now it's time to start fittings.
Good Friday the campus was closed but I was still there working. In eight hours I got three doublets fitted, altered, and sleeves set in and hemmed and that's it. I had two students show up to help me, totally voluntary. Thanks to Sandra and Hannah for sewing for 8 hours to get these costumes finished. Sandra spent her eight hours serging and sewing a chemise and finishing the neck and sleeves with elastic. Hannah spent her eight hours finishing her surcote and then hemming more French tabards. Mike Lewis delivered all the short sleeves and one set of long sleeves chain mail. My husband even helped out by punching all the holes in the leather doublets so the sleeves can be laced into them as well as cutting custom laces and crimping aglets on to both lace up the doublets as well as lace the sleeves in. We did an amazing amount of work but there's still no end in sight.
We are also having to make two new crowns, one for King Charles and one for Henry (for Erik). Brice is making both of those out of sheet metal. The two crowns took Brice a total of 16.5 hours.
TOTAL COSTUME COUNT: 157 COSTUME PIECES, 109 ACCESSORIES
WORN BY 27 ACTORS
TOTAL MONEY SPENT: $908.93 +$538 LABOR +$171.00 DRY CLEANING
The Build
Production photos
A Tale of Two Henrys
MCC takes Shakespeare outdoors with 'Henry V'
April 26, 2017 Waco TRib
King Henry V (Kaitlin Riley) takes on Lord Constable (Jonah Hardt) in McLennan Theatre’s “Henry V.”
Staff photo — Rod Aydelotte
by Carl Hoover
The number on the Shakespeare “Henry” this weekend at Bosque River Stage is five, but for the McLennan Theatre production that’s staged there it might be called a tale of two Henrys. On Thursday and Friday, Henry’s a she. On Saturday, he’s a he.The two Henrys in “Henry V” are the result of double-casting: Both Caitlin Riley and Eric Anderson had strong auditions for the lead role of the Shakespeare history, and directors Kelly Parker and Elizabeth Talbot opted to add rather than divide. “After much hemming and hawing, we decided, ‘Why not two Henrys?,’ ” said Parker, a McLennan Community College theater professor. Riley will play Henry as a man, costumed as such and with no changes in the script outside of the usual editing and condensing done to bring a Shakespearean drama closer to the two-hour patience level of an American audience.
“Henry V,” one of Shakespeare’s 11 English history plays, follows a young King Henry V as he grows into his crown. He foils a plot to overthrow him, then takes his army to France, where they defeat a superior French force at the Battle of Agincourt. Romance also is in his royal skill set as he attempts to woo the French princess Catherine for both personal reasons and national considerations. As much as any of Shakespeare’s histories, “Henry V” is a story of leadership and its responsibilities.
While the production remained true to the play’s plot and language, the directors found its physical staging required some changes. That, in turn, led to new angles of interpretation. Anderson is taller and larger than Riley, and blocking for him didn’t work for her, Parker said. The king giving orders to his generals didn’t read the same way when she was speaking up to her subordinates. Similarly, swordplay and fighting scenes had to be reworked to make them more believable. “It was almost two different shows to block,” Parker recalled. “It really caught us off-guard.” Changing the blocking shifted some characterization in the process. Anderson’s Henry V feels more like one of the guys; Riley’s has a greater perception of status and power. The two actors’ fighting styles also shaped their characters, with Riley more inclined to win by any means necessary, a knee to the groin rather than slashing sword stroke, which makes her seem slightly more ruthless, the director said.
“As in most Shakespeare, the play doesn’t reveal itself until you play it,” Parker said.
The scale of “Henry V” and McLennan Theatre’s short play runs made alternating Henrys a better option than preparing an understudy, who might not be called upon after doing the considerable work to memorize and prepare the part.
“Henry V” also presented a language challenge for its cast of some 30 actors: upper- and lower-class English accents, plus Scottish, Welsh and French ones. That’s where British-born and theatrically trained Talbot, an advising specialist in MCC’s student development office and a theater department adjunct, proved instrumental to the production.
Parker noted that Shakespearean histories aren’t as frequently performed in Waco as his comedies and a handful of his best-known dramas. “Henry V,” however, is as theatrically compelling as any of Shakespeare’s dramas and a personal favorite, he said. “This play hooked me into Shakespeare,” he said.
“Henry V” will be staged at MCC’s Bosque River Stage, an outdoor space with room for swordplay, with action presented in front of a large wall cobbled from worn and weathered wood fencing. The rough and uneven surface suggests what is happening in the history, Parker said. “It’s war. It’s chaos. It’s fragmented lives,” he said.
The number on the Shakespeare “Henry” this weekend at Bosque River Stage is five, but for the McLennan Theatre production that’s staged there it might be called a tale of two Henrys. On Thursday and Friday, Henry’s a she. On Saturday, he’s a he.The two Henrys in “Henry V” are the result of double-casting: Both Caitlin Riley and Eric Anderson had strong auditions for the lead role of the Shakespeare history, and directors Kelly Parker and Elizabeth Talbot opted to add rather than divide. “After much hemming and hawing, we decided, ‘Why not two Henrys?,’ ” said Parker, a McLennan Community College theater professor. Riley will play Henry as a man, costumed as such and with no changes in the script outside of the usual editing and condensing done to bring a Shakespearean drama closer to the two-hour patience level of an American audience.
“Henry V,” one of Shakespeare’s 11 English history plays, follows a young King Henry V as he grows into his crown. He foils a plot to overthrow him, then takes his army to France, where they defeat a superior French force at the Battle of Agincourt. Romance also is in his royal skill set as he attempts to woo the French princess Catherine for both personal reasons and national considerations. As much as any of Shakespeare’s histories, “Henry V” is a story of leadership and its responsibilities.
While the production remained true to the play’s plot and language, the directors found its physical staging required some changes. That, in turn, led to new angles of interpretation. Anderson is taller and larger than Riley, and blocking for him didn’t work for her, Parker said. The king giving orders to his generals didn’t read the same way when she was speaking up to her subordinates. Similarly, swordplay and fighting scenes had to be reworked to make them more believable. “It was almost two different shows to block,” Parker recalled. “It really caught us off-guard.” Changing the blocking shifted some characterization in the process. Anderson’s Henry V feels more like one of the guys; Riley’s has a greater perception of status and power. The two actors’ fighting styles also shaped their characters, with Riley more inclined to win by any means necessary, a knee to the groin rather than slashing sword stroke, which makes her seem slightly more ruthless, the director said.
“As in most Shakespeare, the play doesn’t reveal itself until you play it,” Parker said.
The scale of “Henry V” and McLennan Theatre’s short play runs made alternating Henrys a better option than preparing an understudy, who might not be called upon after doing the considerable work to memorize and prepare the part.
“Henry V” also presented a language challenge for its cast of some 30 actors: upper- and lower-class English accents, plus Scottish, Welsh and French ones. That’s where British-born and theatrically trained Talbot, an advising specialist in MCC’s student development office and a theater department adjunct, proved instrumental to the production.
Parker noted that Shakespearean histories aren’t as frequently performed in Waco as his comedies and a handful of his best-known dramas. “Henry V,” however, is as theatrically compelling as any of Shakespeare’s dramas and a personal favorite, he said. “This play hooked me into Shakespeare,” he said.
“Henry V” will be staged at MCC’s Bosque River Stage, an outdoor space with room for swordplay, with action presented in front of a large wall cobbled from worn and weathered wood fencing. The rough and uneven surface suggests what is happening in the history, Parker said. “It’s war. It’s chaos. It’s fragmented lives,” he said.