Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Mobile Unit’s HENRY V is workmanlike, with a monarch that’s more interesting than meets the eye

• By drediman
• April 28, 2018
• No Comments

Zenzi Williams and Leland Fowler in the Mobile Unit’s production of Shakespeare’s “Henry V” at the Public Theater.

Last night, the Public Theater’s Mobile Unit production of the Bard’s Henry V opened at the institution’s downtown headquarters. The run at 425 Lafayette Street is just one of a number of stops this staging is making – hospitals, prisons, schools, and homes for the elderly are also among the tour’s destinations. You see, the Mobile Unit was created by the Public Theater to facilitate the invaluable service of bringing free Shakespeare to those who can’t make the trek, for one reason or another, to either the East Village or Central Park (home of the very popular Free Shakespeare in the Park).

At the very least, one can expect a bare bones, workmanlike aesthetic from these Mobile Unit productions, and this Henry V, directed by young Robert O’Hara (perhaps best known for penning the provocative Bootycandy), definitely fits that bill. If the production lacks the panoramic grandeur of the most effective stagings of the popular history play I’ve seen, there’s something to be said about this version’s intimacy and transparency. In this color- and gender-blind rendition, we really get into Henry’s head (the warrior monarch here is played with charisma and subtle force by Zenzi Williams), and it’s not quite the noble place we’ve come to expect from this revered king. The production’s masterstroke is the concluding wooing scene between Henry and the French princess Kate. Typically, the scene is a charming denouement to the play’s valedictory bombast. As staged here, Henry’s frightening need for domination persists, even in peacetime.

RECOMMENDED

HENRY V
Off-Broadway, Play
The Public Theater’s Mobile Unit
1 hour, 40 minutes (without an intermission)
Through May 13