Famous Victories of Henry V
Scene 1* Video Sc. 1*
Enter* the young Prince Henry, Ned, and Tom.1.Sp7Prince Henry
1.Sp11Prince Henry
1.Sp12Jockey
1.Sp15Prince Henry
1.Sp16Jockey
Faith, my lord, they are hard by, but the best is, we are a-horseback and they be
afoot, so we may escape them.
1.Sp17Prince Henry
Well, if the villains come, let me alone with them. But tell me, Jockey, how much got’st thou from the knaves? For I am sure I got something, for one of the villains so belammed* me about the shoulders as I shall feel it this month.
1.Sp19Prince Henry
They hide the booty.
Enter two Receivers*.
A hundred pound! Now, bravely* spoken, Jockey. But come, sirs, lay all your money before me. They place* their booty at his feet.
Now, by heaven, here is a brave show! But, as I am true gentleman, I will have the half of this spent tonight*. But, sirs, take up your bags. Here come the receivers. Let me alone.
1.Sp201 Receiver
1.Sp321 Receiver
1.Sp33Prince Henry
1.Sp341 Receiver
If it please you, there were four of them, and there was one about the bigness of
you, but I am sure I so belammed him* about the shoulders that he will feel it this month.
1.Sp35Prince Henry
The Receivers kneel.
Gog’s wounds, you lammed them fairly—so that they have carried away your money*!
To Ned, Tom, and Jockey But come, sirs, what shall we do with the villains?
1.Sp38Prince Henry
Exeunt Receivers.
1.Sp39Prince Henry
1.Sp41Prince Henry
Our hostess at Feversham? Blood, what shall we do there? We have a thousand pound about us, and
we shall go to a petty alehouse? No, no. You know the old tavern* in Eastcheap*? There is good wine. Besides, there is a pretty wench* that can talk well, for I delight as much in their tongues* as any part about them.
1.Sp43Prince Henry
Exeunt Prince Henry, Ned, Tom, and Jockey.
Scene 2* Video Sc. 2*
Enter John* Cobbler, Robin Pewterer, Lawrence Costermonger*.2.Sp3John
2.Sp4Robin
Exit Robin.
2.Sp6John
2.Sp8John
2.Sp10John
John and Lawrence lie down and sleep.
Enter Derrick roving*.
Exit Derrick.
Enter Robin.
Enter Derrick again.
John seizes Derrick.
Neighbor, methinks you begin to sleep*. If you will, we will sit down, for I think it is about midnight.
2.Sp20Derrick
Derrick draws his sword*.
2.Sp27John
Derrick sheathes his sword.
Nay, but hear ye, sir. You seem to be an honest fellow, and we are poor men, and now
’tis night, and we would be loth to have anything ado. Therefore, I pray thee, put it up.
2.Sp28Derrick
Enter the Thief Cutbert Cutter*.
First, thou sayest true, I am an honest fellow—and a proper*, handsome fellow too—and you seem to be poor men. Therefore I care not greatly; nay,
I am quickly pacified. But, an you chance to spy the thief, I pray you lay hold on him.
2.Sp32Cutbert Cutter
Cutbert draws his sword.
Here is a good fellow*. I pray you, which is the way to the old tavern in Eastcheap?
2.Sp37Derrick
John, Robin, and Lawrence seize Cutbert.
2.Sp41Cutbert Cutter
Enter the Vintner’s* Boy.
Why, what do you mean to do with me? Zounds, I am one of the king’s liege people*.
2.Sp54Boy
Why, this night about two hours ago*, there came the young prince and three or four more of his companions and called
for wine good store, and then they sent for a noise* of musicians and were very merry for the space of an hour. Then, whether their music
liked them not or whether they had drunk too much wine or no, I cannot tell, but
our pots* flew against the walls, and then they drew their swords and went into the street
and fought, and some took one part and some took another, but for the space of half
an hour there was such a bloody fray* as passeth, and none could part them until such time as the mayor* and sheriff* were sent for, and then at the last with much ado they took them, and so the young prince was carried to the Counter.
And then about one hour after, there came a messenger from the court in all haste
from the king for my lord mayor and the sheriff, but for what cause I know not.
2.Sp56Lawrence
Marry, neighbor, this news is strange indeed. I think it best, neighbor, to rid our
hands of this fellow first.
2.Sp62Derrick
Exeunt.
Scene 3* Video Sc. 3*
Enter Henry the Fourth with the Earl of Exeter* and the Lord of Oxford*.3.Sp1Oxford
3.Sp2Henry IV*
Admit them to our presence.
(Enter the Mayor and the Sheriff.)
Now, my good lord mayor of London, the cause of my sending for you at this time is
to tell you of a matter which I have learned of my council. Herein I understand that
you have committed my son to prison without our leave and licence. What, although
he be a rude youth and likely to give occasion, yet you might have considered that
he is a prince, and my son, and not to be haled to prison by every subject*.
3.Sp4Henry IV
Or else, God forbid, otherwise you might think me an unequal* judge, having more affection to my son than to any rightful judgment.
3.Sp5Lord Mayor
3.Sp7Lord Mayor
Exit Mayor* with Sheriff.
Then, if it please your majesty, this night betwixt two and three of the clock in
the morning, my lord the young prince with a very disordered company came to the old
tavern in Eastcheap, and whether it was that their music liked them not* or whether they were overcome with wine, I know not, but they drew their swords, and
into the street they went, and some took my lord the young prince’s part and some
took the other, but betwixt them there was such a bloody fray* for the space of half an hour that neither watchmen nor any other could stay them* ’til my brother* the sheriff of London and I were sent for, and at the last with much ado we stayed
them, but it was long first, which was a great disquieting to all your loving subjects
thereabouts. And then, my good lord, we knew not whether your grace had sent them to try* us, whether we would do justice, or whether it were of their own voluntary will or
not, we cannot tell*. And therefore in such a case we knew not what to do, but for our own safeguard we
sent him to ward*, where he wanteth* nothing that is fit for his grace and your majesty’s son. And thus most humbly beseeching
your majesty to think of our answer*.
3.Sp9Henry IV
Ah, Harry, Harry, now thrice-accursed Harry, that hath gotten a son which with grief
will end his father’s days.* O my son, a prince thou art, ay, a prince indeed—and to deserve imprisonment! And well have they done, and like faithful subjects.
To Exeter and Oxford Discharge them and let them go.
3.Sp13Henry IV
Exeunt.
No, they have done like faithful subjects. I will go myself to discharge them and let them go.
Scene 4* Video Sc. 4*
Enter Lord Chief Justice*, Clerk of the Office*, Jailor with several Officers, John Cobbler, Derrick, and the Thief Cutbert Cutter.4.Sp9Derrick
4.Sp14Clerk
Why then, Cutbert Cutter, I indict thee by the name of Cutbert Cutter for robbing
a poor carrier the twentieth day of May last past, in the fourteenth year of the reign of our sovereign* lord King Henry the Fourth, for setting upon a poor carrier upon Gad’s Hill in Kent, and having beaten and wounded
the said carrier, and taken his goods from him.*
4.Sp15Derrick
Enter the young Prince* Henry, with Ned and Tom.
4.Sp20Prince Henry
4.Sp24Prince Henry
4.Sp31Derrick
Hear you, sir. Is it your man’s quality* to rob folks in jest? In faith, he shall be hanged in earnest.
4.Sp33Lord Chief Justice
4.Sp34Derrick
Hear you, sir*, I pray you. Is it your man’s quality to rob folks in jest? In faith, he shall be
hanged in jest.
4.Sp36Lord Chief Justice
4.Sp40Lord Chief Justice
He giveth him a box on the ear*.
Ned draws his sword.
4.Sp53Prince Henry
Exeunt Ned and Tom*.
No, I charge you, draw not your swords, but get you hence—provide a noise of musicians.
Away, begone!
4.Sp58Lord Chief Justice
Exit Prince Henry with the Officers.
Exeunt* Lord Chief Justice, Clerk of the Office, John Cobbler, Derrick, and Cutbert Cutter
with Jailor
Your grace hath said truth. Therefore in striking me in this place you greatly abuse
me, and not me only but also your father, whose lively* person here in this place I do represent. And therefore, to teach you what prerogatives* mean, I commit you to the Fleet* until we have spoken with your father.*
Scene 5* Video Sc. 5*
Enter Derrick and John* Cobbler.5.Sp1Derrick
Zounds, masters*, here’s ado, when princes must go to prison! Why, John, didst ever see the like?
5.Sp3Derrick
5.Sp5Derrick
John sits in the lord chief justice’s chair.
Faith, John, I’ll tell thee what. Thou shalt be my lord chief justice, and thou shalt sit in the chair,* and I’ll be the young prince and hit thee a box on the ear, and then thou shalt say,
“to teach you what prerogatives mean, I commit you to the Fleet”.
5.Sp17Derrick
5.Sp25Derrick
Well, I will go, but, i’faith, you grey-beard knave, I’ll course* you.
(Exit and straight* enters again.)
O John, come, come out of thy chair! Why, what a clown wert thou to let me hit thee a box on the ear, and now thou seest they will not take me to the Fleet! I think that thou art one of these workaday clowns.
5.Sp31Derrick
5.Sp32John
A capon! Why, man, I cannot get a capon once a year, except it be at Christmas at
some other man’s house, for we cobblers be glad of a dish of roots.
5.Sp34John
But, Derrick,
Yet will we have in store
A crab* in the fire,
With nut-brown ale,
That is full stale*,
Which will a man quail*,
And lay in the mire!
5.Sp35Derrick
Exeunt.
Scene 6* Video Sc. 6*
Enter the young Prince Henry with Ned and Tom.6.Sp1Prince Henry
Enter Sir John Oldcastle Jockey.
Come away*, sirs. Gog’s wounds, Ned, didst thou not see what a box on the ear I took my Lord Chief Justice?
6.Sp5Prince Henry
To visit me! Didst thou not know that I am a prince’s son? Why, ’tis enough for me
to look into a prison, though I come not in myself. But here’s such ado nowadays,
here’s prisoning, here’s hanging, whipping, and the devil and all! But I tell you,
sirs, when I am king we will have no such things.* But, my lads, if the old king my father were dead, we would be all kings*.
6.Sp7Prince Henry
But, Ned, so soon as I am king, the first thing I will do shall be to put my Lord
Chief Justice out of office, and thou shalt be my lord chief justice* of England.
6.Sp8Ned
Shall I be lord chief justice? By Gog’s wounds, I’ll be the bravest lord chief justice
that ever was in England!
6.Sp9Prince Henry
Then, Ned, I’ll turn all these prisons into fence* schools, and I will endow thee with them, with lands to maintain them withal. Then I will have a bout with my Lord Chief Justice! Thou shalt hang none but pick-purses and horse-stealers,
and such base-minded villains. But that fellow that will stand by the highway side courageously* with his sword and buckler* and take a purse, that fellow give him commendations; besides that, send him to me
and I will give him an annual pension out of my exchequer to maintain him all the
days of his life.
6.Sp14Prince Henry
6.Sp16Prince Henry
Cloak, eyelet-holes, needles*, and all was of mine own devising, and therefore I will wear it.
6.Sp20Prince Henry
They knock at a gate*.
Enter Porter.
Ned draws his sword.
6.Sp28Prince Henry
Exit Porter.
No, no. Though I would help you in other places, yet I have nothing to do here. What, you
are in my father’s court!*
6.Sp29Ned
The trumpet sounds.
Enter the King* Henry IV with the Lord of Exeter.
6.Sp31Henry IV
He weepeth. Enter the Lord of Oxford.
And is it true, my lord, that my son is already sent to the Fleet? Now truly that
man is more fitter to rule the realm than I, for by no means could I rule my son, and he* by one word hath caused him* to be ruled. O my son, my son, no sooner out of one prison but into another! I had
thought, once, while I had lived to have seen this noble realm of England flourish
by thee, my son, but now I see it goes to ruin and decay.
6.Sp32Oxford
Oxfordgoeth* across the stage to address Prince Henry.
6.Sp41Prince Henry
Exeunt Knights* Ned, Tom, and Jockey.
The Prince crosses the stage to Henry IV with a dagger in his hand*.
6.Sp44Henry IV
He weeps.
Come, my son, come on in God’s name!* I know wherefore thy coming is. O my son, my son, what cause hath ever been, that
thou shouldst forsake me and follow this vile and reprobate* company which abuseth youth* so manifestly*? O my son, thou knowest that these thy doings will end thy father’s days.
(He weeps.)
Ay, so, so, my son, thou fearest not to approach the presence of thy sick father in
that disguised sort. I tell thee, my son, that there is never a needle in thy cloak
but it is a prick to my heart, and never an eyelet-hole but it is a hole to my soul,
and wherefore thou bringest that dagger in thy hand I know not but by conjecture.
6.Sp45Prince Henry
Exit Prince Henry.
Enter Prince Henry.
Aside My conscience accuseth me. To Henry IV Most sovereign lord and well-beloved father, to answer first to the last point. That
is, whereas you conjecture that this hand and this
dagger shall be armed against your life,* no, know, my beloved father, far be the thoughts of your son—“son”, said I? An unworthy
son for so good a father—but far be the thoughts of any such pretended* mischief, and I most humbly render it to your majesty’s hand.*Prince Henry gives Henry IV the dagger. And live, my lord and sovereign, forever and with your dagger arm show like vengeance
upon the body of that “your son”, I was about to say and dare not, ah woe is me!—therefore, that your wild slave. ’Tis not the crown that
I come for, sweet father, because I am unworthy, and those vile and reprobate companions I abandon and utterly abolish* their company forever. Pardon, sweet father, pardon: the least thing and most desired. And this ruffianly cloak I here tear from my back and sacrifice it to the devil, which is master of all mischief*. Pardon me, sweet father, pardon me. Good my lord of Exeter, speak for me. Pardon
me, pardon, good father. Not a word? Ah, he will not speak one word. Ah, Harry, now thrice unhappy Harry! But what shall
I do? I will go take me into some solitary place and there lament my sinful life*, and when I have done I will lay me down and die.*
6.Sp47Prince Henry
Prince Henry kneels.
And doth my father call me again? Now, Harry, happy be the time that thy father calleth
thee again.
6.Sp48Henry IV
Prince Henry rises.
Stand up, my son, and do not think thy father but at the request of thee, my son,
I will pardon thee. And God bless thee and make thee his servant.
6.Sp49Prince Henry
Exeunt omnes.
Thanks, good my lord, and no doubt but this day, even this day, I am born new again*.
Scene 7* Video Sc.7*
Enter Derrick.7.Sp1Derrick
Enter John Cobbler running*.
7.Sp2John
7.Sp7Derrick
7.Sp8John
Scene 8*; Video Sc. 8*
Enter the King with his Lords Exeter and Oxford.8.Sp1Henry IV
Come, my lords, I see it boots* me not to take any physic*, for all the physicians in the world cannot cure me, no not one. But good my lords,
remember my last will and testament* concerning my son, for truly, my lords, I do not think but he will prove as valiant
and victorious a king as ever reigned in England.
8.Sp2Exeter, and Oxford
Let heaven and earth be witness between us, if we accomplish not thy will to the uttermost.
8.Sp3Henry IV
Exeunt Lords Exeter and Oxford.
Music plays*, and he sleepeth. Enter the Prince.
8.Sp4Prince Henry
Exit Prince Henry, with Henry IV’s crown.*
Enter Lords of Exeter and Oxford.
Ah Harry, thrice-unhappy, that hath neglect so long from visiting of thy sick father.
I will go*. Nay, but why do I not go to the chamber of my sick father to comfort the melancholy
soul of his body? “His soul”, said I? Here is his body indeed, but his soul is whereas* it needs no body. Now thrice-accursed Harry, that hath offended thy father so much,
and could not I crave pardon for all! O my dying* father, cursed be the day wherein* I was born, and accursed be the hour wherein I was begotten*! But what shall I do? If weeping tears which come too late may suffice* the negligence neglected to some, I will weep day and night until the fountain be
dry with weeping.
8.Sp8Henry IV
Somewhat better after my sleep. But, good my lords, take off my crown, remove my chair* a little back, and set me right.
8.Sp10Henry IV
Enter Lord of Oxford with the Prince holding the crown.*
8.Sp12Henry IV
Why, how now, my son? I had thought the last time I had you in schooling I had given
you a lesson for all, and do you now begin again? Why tell me, my son, dost thou think
the time so long that thou wouldst have it before the breath be out of my mouth?*
8.Sp13Prince Henry
Prince Henry gives Henry IV the crown and kneels before him.
Most sovereign lord and well-beloved father*, I came into your chamber to comfort the melancholy soul of your body, and finding
you at that time past all recovery and dead, to my thinking, God is my witness, and
what should I do but with weeping tears lament the death of you, my father? And after
that, seeing the crown, I took it. And tell me, my father, who might better take it
than I after your death? But, seeing you live, I most humbly render it into your majesty’s
hands, and the happiest man alive that my father live. And live, my lord and father,
forever.
8.Sp14Henry IV
Stand up, my son. Thine answer hath sounded well in mine ears, for I must needs confess that I was in a very sound sleep and altogether unmindful* of thy coming. But come near, my son, and let me put thee in possession whilst I
live, that none deprive thee of it after my death.
8.Sp15Prince Henry
He Prince Henry taketh the crown.
Well may I take it at your majesty’s hands, but it shall never touch my head so long
as my father lives.
8.Sp16Henry IV
God give thee joy, my son. God bless thee and make thee His servant and send thee
a prosperous reign, for God knows, my son, how hardly I came by it and how hardly I have maintained it*.
8.Sp17Prince Henry
8.Sp18Henry IV
Nobly spoken, and like a king. Now trust me, my lords, I fear not but my son will be as warlike and victorious
a prince as ever reigned in England.
8.Sp20Henry IV
Exeter, Oxford, and Prince Henry draw the curtains.
Music plays.
Exeunt omnes Exeter, Oxford, and Prince Henry.
The King dieth*.
Well, my lords, I know not whether it be for sleep or drawing near of drowsy summer
of death, but I am very much given to sleep. Therefore, good my lords and my son,
draw the curtains, depart my chamber, and cause some music to rock me asleep.
Scene 9* Video Sc. 9*
Enter the Thief Cutbert Cutter.9.Sp1Cutbert Cutter
Enter Knights Tom, Jockey, and Ned ranging*.
Ah God*, I am now much like to a bird which hath escaped out of the cage, for so soon as
my Lord Chief Justice heard that the old king was dead, he was glad to let me go, for fear of my lord the
young prince. But here comes some of his companions. I will see an I can get anything of them, for old acquaintance.
9.Sp9Tom
Gog’s blood, dost think that he will have any such scabbed* knave as thou art? What, man, he is a king now.
9.Sp10Ned
Exit Thief Cutbert Cutter.
Hold thee, here’s a couple of angels* for thee, and get thee gone, for the king will not be long before he come this way.
And hereafter I will tell the king of thee.
9.Sp11Jockey
Oh, how it did me good to see the king when he was crowned*! Methought his seat was like the figure of heaven and his person like unto a god.
9.Sp13Jockey
9.Sp14Tom
The trumpet sounds.
Enter the King Henry V with the Archbishop of Canterbury*, and the Lord of Oxford.
But ’twas but a little to make the people believe that he was sorry for his father’s
death.
9.Sp17Ned
How now, Harry? Tut, my lord, put away these dumps*. You are a king, and all the realm is yours. What, man, do you not remember the old
sayings? You know I must be lord chief justice of England. Trust me, my lord, methinks
you are very much changed, and ’tis but with a little sorrowing to make folks believe
the death of your father grieves you, and ’tis nothing so.
9.Sp18Henry V
9.Sp21Henry V
Ah, Tom, your former life grieves me and makes me to abandon and abolish your company
forever,* and therefore not upon pain of death to approach my presence by ten miles’ space.
Then, if I hear well of you, it may be I will do somewhat for you; otherwise, look
for no more favor at my hands than at any other man’s. And therefore be gone. We have other matters to talk on.
(Exeunt Knights Tom, Ned, and Jockey.)
Now, my good lord archbishop of Canterbury, what say you to our embassage into France?
9.Sp22Canterbury
Your right to the French crown of France* came by your great-grandmother Isabel*, wife to King Edward the Third* and sister to Charles the French king*. Now, if the French king deny it, as likely enough he will, then must you take your sword in hand and conquer the right. Let the usurped Frenchman* know, although your predecessors have let it pass, you will not, for your countrymen
are willing with purse and men to aid you. Then, my good lord, as it hath been always
known that Scotland hath been in league with France* by a sort of pensions* which yearly come from thence, I think it therefore best to conquer Scotland, and
then I think that you may go more easily into France. And this is all that I can say,
my good lord.
9.Sp23Henry V
I thank you*, my good lord archbishop of Canterbury. What say you, my good lord of Oxford?
9.Sp24Oxford
Enter Lord of Exeter.
An please your majesty, I agree to my lord archbishop, saving in this: he that will Scotland win must first with France begin, according to the old saying.* Therefore, my good lord, I think it best first to invade France, for in conquering
Scotland you conquer but one; an conquer France and conquer both.
9.Sp26Henry V
Enter Duke of York*.
Now trust me, my lord, he was the last man that we talked of. I am glad that he is
come to resolve us of our answer. Commit* him to our presence.
9.Sp29York
9.Sp30Henry V
Commit my lord archbishop of Bruges into our presence.
(Enter Archbishop of Bruges*.)
Now, my lord archbishop of Bruges, we do learn by our lord ambassador that you have our message to do from our brother
the French king. Here, my good lord, according to our accustomed order, we give you
free liberty and licence to speak with good audience*.
9.Sp31Bruges
God save the mighty king of England. My lord and master, the most Christian king,
Charles the Sixth*, the great and mighty king of France, as a most noble and Christian king, not minding to shed innocent blood, is rather content to yield somewhat to your unreasonable
demands,* that if fifty thousand crowns a year with his daughter, the said Lady Katherine, in marriage, and some crowns which he may well spare, not hurting of his kingdom*, he is content to yield so far to your unreasonable desire.
9.Sp32Henry V
He delivereth a tun* of tennis balls*.
9.Sp36Henry V
A tun of tennis balls? I pray you, good my lord archbishop, what might the meaning
thereof be?
9.Sp37Bruges
An it please you, my lord, a messenger, you know, ought to keep close* his message, and specially an ambassador.
9.Sp38Henry V
But I know that you may declare your message to a king. The law of arms* allows no less.
9.Sp39Bruges
My lord, hearing of your wildness before your father’s death, sent you this, my good
lord, meaning that you are more fitter for a tennis court than a field and more fitter for a carpet than the camp.*
9.Sp40Henry V
My lord Prince Dauphin is very pleasant* with me. But tell him that instead of balls of leather we will toss him balls of brass and
iron,* yea, such balls as never were tossed in France. The proudest tennis court shall rue* it; ay, and thou, prince of Bruges, shall rue it. Therefore get thee hence and tell him
thy message quickly, lest I be there before thee. Away, priest, be gone.
9.Sp42Henry V
Enter Lord Chief Justice of England.
Priest of Bruges, know that the hand and seal of a king, and his word is all one*, and instead of my hand and seal I will bring him my hand and sword. And tell thy
lord and master that I, Harry of England*, said it and I, Harry of England, will perform it. My lord of York, deliver him our
safe conduct under our broad seal manual.
(Exeunt Archbishop of Bruges, and the Duke of York.)
Now, my lords, to arms, to arms, for I vow by heaven and earth that the proudest Frenchman
in all France shall rue the time that ever these tennis balls were sent into England.
To Exeter* My lord, I will that there be provided a great navy of ships with all speed at Southampton*, for there I mean to ship my men, for I would be there before him, if it were possible. Therefore come*—but stay, I had almost forgot the chiefest thing of all, with chafing* with this French ambassador. Call in my Lord Chief Justice of England*.
9.Sp51Henry V
Ay, truly my lord, and for revengement* I have chosen you to be my protector over my realm until it shall please God to give
me speedy return out of France.
9.Sp53Henry V
Exeunt omnes.
Tut, my lord, you are not unworthy, because I think you worthy. For you that would
not spare me, I think, will not spare another. It must needs be so, and, therefore,
come, let us be gone and get our men in a readiness*.
Scene 10*; Video Sc. 10*
Enter a Captain, John Cobbler, and his Wife*.10.Sp10John
He weepeth. Enter Derrick* with a pot lid for a shield.
Oh, wife*, an you had been a loving wife to me, this had not been, for I have said many times that
I would go away, and now I must go against my will.
10.Sp11Derrick
10.Sp12Wife
She beateth him* with her pot lid.
10.Sp13Derrick
She beateth him.
Oh, good dame!(Here he shakes her.)
An I had my dagger here, I would worry* you all to pieces, that I would.
10.Sp15Derrick
Master Captain, will ye suffer her? Go to, dame! I will go back as far as I can, but,
an you come again, I’ll clap the law on your back, that’s flat. I’ll tell you, Master
Captain, what you shall do. Press* her for a soldier. I warrant you, she will do as much good as her husband and I too.
(Enter the Thief Cutbert Cutter.)
Zounds, who comes yonder?
10.Sp25Derrick
They embrace tearfully*.
Marry, I have brought two shirts with me, and I would carry one of them home again,
for I am sure he’ll steal it from me, he is such a filching fellow.
10.Sp30Derrick
Exeunt omnes*.
Fie, what a kissing and crying* is here!
To Wife Zounds, do ye think he will never come again?
To John Why, John, come away! Dost think that we are so base-minded to die among Frenchmen?
Zounds, we know not whether they will lay us in their church or no. Come, Master Captain, let’s away.
Scene 11* Video Sc. 11*
Enter the King* Charles VI of France, Prince Dauphin*, and Lord High Constable of France*.11.Sp2Constable
11.Sp4Dauphin
Tut, my lord, although the king of England be young and wild-headed, yet never think
he will be so unwise to make battle against the mighty king of France.
11.Sp5Charles VI
Enter Archbishop of Bruges.
Oh, my son, although the king of England be young and wild-headed, yet never think
but he is ruled by his wise counselors.
11.Sp7Charles VI
11.Sp8Bruges
An please your majesty, he is so far from your expectation that nothing will serve him
but the crown and kingdom itself. Besides, he bade me haste quickly, lest he be there
before me, and, so far as I hear, he hath kept promise, for they say he is already
landed at Kidcocks* in Normandy*, upon the river of Seine, and laid his siege to the garrison town of Harfleur*.
11.Sp11Bruges
Enter a Messenger.
11.Sp15Messenger
11.Sp16Charles VI
Come, my lords, come, shall we stand still ’til our country be spoiled under our noses?
My lords, let the Normans, Brabants, Pickardies, and Danes* be sent for with all speed. And you, my lord high constable, I make general over
all my whole army, Monsieur le Cole, Master of the Bows*, Signor Devens*, and all the rest, at your appointment.
11.Sp17Dauphin
11.Sp18Charles VI
11.Sp19Dauphin
Exeunt omnes.
Why, my lord and father, I would have the petty king of England to know that I dare
encounter him in any ground of the world.
Scene 12* Video Sc. 12*
Enter Henry the Fifth, with his Lords.12.Sp1Henry V
Exit a Lord.
12.Sp2York
An it please your majesty, there are many of your men sick and diseased, and many of
them die for want of victuals*.
12.Sp3Henry V
12.Sp7Henry V
Enter a Herald*.
Trust me, my lord of Oxford, I cannot, for I have already given it to my uncle the
duke of York. Yet I thank you for your good will.
(A trumpet sounds.)
How now, what is that?
12.Sp9Herald
King of England, my lord high constable and others of the noblemen of France sends
me to defy thee as open enemy to God, our country, and us, and hereupon they presently
bid thee battle.
12.Sp10Henry V
Herald, tell them that I defy them as open enemies to God, my country, and me, and
as wrongful usurpers of my right. And whereas thou say’st they presently bid me battle,
tell them that I think they know how to please me. But, I pray* thee, what place hath my lord Prince Dauphin here in battle?
12.Sp11Herald
12.Sp12Henry V
A drum strikes.
Exeunt omnes.
Why, then, he doth me great injury. I thought that he and I should have played at tennis* together. Therefore I have brought tennis balls for him, but other manner of ones than he sent me. And, herald, tell my lord Prince Dauphin that I have inured* my hands with other kind of weapons than tennis balls ere this time o’ day and that he shall find it ere it be long. And so
adieu, my friend, and tell my lord that I am ready when he will.
(Exit Herald.)
Come, my lords, I care not* an I go to our captains, and I’ll see the number of the French army myself. Strike up
the drum.
Scene 13* Video Sc. 13*
Enter French Soldiers.13.Sp11 French Soldier
Enter Drummer*.
Come away, Jack Drummer, come away all, and me will tell you what me will do. Me will tro one chance on the dice*, who shall have the king of England and his lords.
13.Sp3Drummer
Oh, the brave apparel that the Englishmans hay broth over*! I will tell you what me ha’ done, me ha’ provided a hundreth trunks, and all to
put the fine ’parel of the Englishmans in.
13.Sp61 French Soldier
13.Sp7Drummer
13.Sp83 French Soldier
He throws dice.
13.Sp91 French Soldier
Enter a Captain*.
Exeunt Drummer*, and one Soldier.
13.Sp132 French Soldier
13.Sp14Captain
I think so. Why, he is left behind for me, and I have set three or four chair-makers a-work to make a
new disguised chair* to set that womanly king of England in, that all the people may laugh and scoff at
him.
13.Sp16Captain
Exit Captain.
Exit 2 Soldier.
I am glad, and yet with a kind of pity, to see the poor king. Why, whoever saw a more flourishing army in France* in one day than here is? Are not here all the peers* of France? Are not here the Normans with their fiery handguns and slaunching* curtle-axes*? Are not here the Barbarians with their bard* horses and launching* spears? Are not here Pickards with their cross-bows and piercing darts? The Hainuyers* with their cutting glaives* and sharp carbuncles*? Are not here the lance-knights of Burgundy? And on the other side*, a sight of poor English scabs? Why, take an Englishman out of his warm bed and his stale drink but one month and,
alas, what will become of him?* But give the Frenchman a radish root* and he will live with it all the days of his life.
Scene 14* Video Sc. 14*
Enter the King of England and his Lords.14.Sp2Oxford
An it please your majesty, our captains have numbered them, and, so near as they can
judge, they are about threescore* thousand horsemen and forty thousand footmen.
14.Sp3Henry V
They threescore thousand, and we but two thousand. They forty thousand footmen, and we twelve thousand. They are a hundred thousand, and we fourteen* thousand: ten to one*. My lords and loving countrymen*, though we be few and they many, fear not. Your quarrel is good, and God will defend
you. Pluck up your hearts, for this day we shall either have a valiant victory or
an honorable death. Now, my lords, I will that my uncle the duke of York have the vanguard in the battle. The earl of Derby*, the earl of Oxford, the earl of Kent*, the earl of Nottingham*, the earl of Huntington*, I will have beside the army, that they may come fresh upon them. And I myself with
the duke of Bedford*, the duke of Clarence*, and the duke of Gloucester* will be in the midst of the battle. Furthermore, I will that my lord of Willoughby
and the earl of Northumberland with their troops of horsemen be continually running
like wings on both sides of the army, my lord of Northumberland on the left wing.
Then I will that every archer provide him a stake* of a tree and sharp it at both ends and, at the first encounter of the horsemen,
to pitch their stakes down into the ground before them, that they may gore themselves
upon them, and then to recoil back and shoot wholly altogether and so discomfit* them.
14.Sp4Oxford
Exit Oxford.
14.Sp7Henry V
Enter Herald*.
14.Sp8Herald
King of England, my lord high constable and other of my lords, considering the poor
estate of thee and thy poor countrymen, send me to know what thou wilt give for thy ransom. Perhaps thou mayst agree better cheap* now than when thou art conquered.
14.Sp9Henry V
Why, then* belike your high constable sends to know what I will give for my ransom? Now, trust
me, herald, not so much as a tun of tennis balls. No, not so much as one poor tennis ball. Rather shall my body lie dead in the field to feed crows than ever England shall pay one penny ransom for my body.*
14.Sp11Henry V
No, herald, ’tis a kingly resolution and the resolution of a king. Here, take this for thy pains.
Henry V gives the Herald coins*.
(Exit Herald.)
But stay, my lords. What time is it?
14.Sp13Henry V
Strike Drummer. Exeunt omnes.
Scene 15* Video Sc. 15*
The Frenchmen cry within,Saint Denis*, Saint Denis, Montjoy*, Saint Denis!The Battle.
Scene 16* Video Sc. 16*
Enter King of England, and his Lords.16.Sp1Henry V
Come, my lords, come. By this time our swords are almost drunk with French blood.
But, my lords, which of you can tell me how many of our army be slain in the battle?
16.Sp2Oxford
An it please your majesty, there are of the French army slain above ten thousand twenty-six hundred, whereof are princes and nobles bearing banners.* Besides, all the nobility of France are taken prisoners*. Of your majesty’s army are slain none but the good duke of York* and not above five or six and twenty common soldiers.*
16.Sp3Henry V
Sound trumpet. Enter a Herald and kneeleth.
For the good duke of York my uncle I am heartily sorry and greatly lament his misfortune,
yet the honorable victory which the Lord hath given us* doth make me much rejoice. But stay, here comes another French message.
16.Sp5Henry V
Now, herald, methinks the world is changed with you now. What, I am sure it is a great disgrace for a herald to kneel to the king of England.* What is thy message?
16.Sp6Herald
My lord and master, the conquered king of France, sends thee long health with hearty
greeting.
16.Sp7Henry V
Herald, his greetings are welcome, but I thank God for my health. Well, herald, say
on.
16.Sp8Herald
He hath sent me to desire your majesty to give him leave to go into the field to view
his poor countrymen, that they may all be honorably buried.
16.Sp9Henry V
Why, herald, doth thy lord and master send to me to bury the dead? Let him bury them,
in God’s name. But I pray thee, herald, where is my lord high constable and those
that would have had my ransom?
16.Sp11Henry V
16.Sp13Henry V
Well then, my lords of England, for the more honor of our Englishmen, I will that
this be forever called the Battle of Agincourt*.
16.Sp17Henry V
With a good will, so some of my nobles view the place, for fear of treachery and treason.
16.Sp19Henry V
Exeunt omnes.
Well, tell him then, I will come.
(Exit Herald.)
Now, my lords, I will go into the field myself to view my countrymen and to have them
honorably buried, for the French king shall never surpass me in courtesy* while I am Harry king of England. Come on, my lords.
Scene 17* Video Sc. 17*
Enter John Cobbler, and Robin Pewterer.17.Sp2John
Enter an English Soldier, roaming*.
But, Robin, didst thou see what a policy the king had? To see how the Frenchmen were
killed with the stakes of the trees!
17.Sp6English Soldier
Exit Soldier.
Drum and trumpet sound.
Exit John and Robin.
Scene 18* Video Sc. 18*
Enter Derrick* roaming. After him a Frenchman, and takes him Derrick prisoner.18.Sp7Derrick
Nay, sir, I will give you more. I will give you as many crowns as will lie on your
sword.
18.Sp9Derrick
Here the Frenchman* lays down his sword, and the clown Derrick takes it up and hurls him down.
18.Sp12Derrick
Here while* he Derrick turns his back the Frenchman runs his ways.
18.Sp13Derrick
Exit Derrick.
Scene 19* Video Sc. 19*
Enter King of France, King of England, Secretary, and attendants.19.Sp1Henry V
19.Sp8Secretary
Item, that after the death of the said Henry, the crown remain to him and his heirs
forever.
19.Sp10Henry V
Why, my good brother of France, you have had it long enough, and, as for Prince Dauphin,
it skills not though he sit beside the saddle*. Thus I have set it down, and thus it shall be.
19.Sp17Charles VI
Well, my brother of England, if you will give me a copy we will meet you again tomorrow*.
19.Sp18Henry V
Exeunt Lords.
Speaks to himself.
19.Sp19Henry V
Ah Harry, thrice-unhappy Harry! Hast thou now conquered the French king and begin’st a fresh supply* with his daughter*? But with what face* canst thou seek to gain her love, which hath sought to win her father’s crown? “Her
father’s crown”, said I? No, it is mine own. Ay, but I love her and must crave* her. Nay, I love her and will have her*.
(Enter Lady Katherine* and her Ladies.)
But here she comes. How now, fair Lady Katherine of France, what news?
19.Sp21Henry V
Now trust me, Kate, I commend thy father’s wit greatly in this, for none in the world
could sooner have made me debate it if it were possible. But tell me, sweet Kate,
canst thou tell how to love?
19.Sp23Henry V
Tush, Kate. But tell me in plain terms*, canst thou love the king of England? I cannot do as these countries do that spend half their time in wooing. Tush, wench, I am none such. But wilt thou go over to England?
19.Sp24Katherine
I would to God that I had your majesty as fast in love as you have my father in wars.
I would not vouchsafe so much as one look until you had debated all these unreasonable demands*.
19.Sp25Henry V
Tush, Kate, I know thou wouldst not use me so hardly. But tell me, canst thou love
the king of England*?
19.Sp27Henry V
19.Sp28Katherine
If I were of my own direction, I could give you answer. But seeing I stand at my father’s direction, I must first know his will*.
19.Sp30Katherine
She goes aside, and speaks as followeth.
Whereas* I can put your grace in no assurance, I would be loath to put you in any despair.
19.Sp32Katherine
I may think myself the happiest in the world, that is beloved of the mighty king of England.*
19.Sp33Henry V
Exit Katherine of France and her Ladies.
19.Sp35Henry V
Exit King.
Farewell, sweet Kate! In faith, it is a sweet wench, but, if I knew I could not have
her father’s good will, I would so rouse* the towers over his ears that I would make him be glad to bring her me upon his hands
and knees.
Scene 20* Video Sc. 20*
Enter Derrick, with his girdle* full of shoes*. Enter John Cobbler roving, with a pack full of apparel.20.Sp4John
20.Sp11Derrick
Why, I will tell* thee, John. Every day when I went into the field I would take a straw and thrust
it into my nose and make my nose bleed, and then I would go into the field, and when
the captain saw me he would say, “Peace, a bloody soldier”, and bid me stand aside*, whereof I was glad. But mark the chance, John. I went and stood behind a tree—but
mark then, John. I thought I had been safe, but on a sudden there steps to me a lusty
tall Frenchman. Now he drew, and I drew. Now I lay here, and he lay there. Now I set
this leg before, and turned this backward, and skipped quite over a hedge, and he
saw me no more there that day. And was not this well done, John?
20.Sp13Derrick
Ay, John, thou mayst see, if thou hadst taken my counsel—but what hast thou there? I
think thou hast been robbing the Frenchmen*.
20.Sp15Derrick
20.Sp17Derrick
20.Sp19Derrick
20.Sp21Derrick
Why, John, thou knowest the duke of York’s funeral must be carried into England, dost thou not?
20.Sp25Derrick
Zounds, if I* make not shift to meet them, hang me. Sirrah*, thou know’st that in every town there will be ringing and there will be cakes and
drink. Now, I will go to the clerk* and sexton* and keep a-talking, and say, “Oh, this fellow rings well”, and thou shalt go and
take a piece of cake. Then I’ll ring, and thou shalt say, “Oh, this fellow keeps a
good stint*”, and then I will go drink to thee all the way. But I marvel what my dame will say
when we come home, because we have not a French word to cast at a dog by the way.
20.Sp27Derrick
The trumpets sound.
Exeunt Derrick and John.
Why, John, I’ll go before and call my dame whore, and thou shalt come after and set
fire on the house. We may do it, John, for I’ll prove it, because we be soldiers*.
Scene 21* Video Sc. 21*
Enter King of England, Lords of Oxford and Exeter, then the King of France, Prince Dauphin, and the duke of Burgundy*, Katherine, Secretary, and attendants.21.Sp1Henry V
Now, my good brother of France, I hope by this time you have deliberated of your answer?
21.Sp2Charles VI
21.Sp3Henry V
What, not king of France? Then nothing. I must be king. But, my loving brother of
France, I can hardly forget the late injuries offered me when I came last to parley.
The Frenchmen had better ha’ raked the bowels out of their fathers’ carcasses than to have fired my tents, and, if I knew thy son Prince Dauphin for one, I would so
rouse him as he was never so roused.
21.Sp4Charles VI
I dare swear for my son’s innocency in this matter. But, if this please you, that
immediately you be proclaimed and crowned Heir and Regent of France*, not king, because I myself was once crowned king.
21.Sp7Secretary
Item, that Henry king of England be crowned Heir and Regent of France during the life
of King Charles and, after his death, the crown, with all rights, to remain to King
Henry of England and to his heirs forever.
21.Sp11Charles VI
Whereas they have not stuck with greater matters, I know they will not stick with
such a trifle. Begin you, my lord duke of Burgundy.
21.Sp13Burgundy
He kisseth the sword.
He the Prince Dauphin kisseth the sword.
I, Philip duke of Burgundy, swear to Henry king of England to be true to him and to
become his liege man, and that if I, Philip, hear of any foreign power coming to invade the said Henry
or his heirs, then I the said Philip to send him word and aid him with all the power
I can make. And thereunto I take my oath*.
21.Sp17Henry V
A trifle, my good brother of France. I mean to make your daughter queen of England, if she be willing and you therewith content. How say’st thou, Kate? Canst thou love
the king of England*?
21.Sp19Henry V
Tut, stand not upon these points. ’Tis you must make us friends. I know, Kate, thou
art not a little proud that I love thee. What, wench*, the king of England?
21.Sp21Katherine
Sound trumpets.
Exeunt omnes.
Aside I had best whilst he is willing*, lest when I would, he will not. I rest at your majesty’s command.
Annotations
Scene 1
Famous Victories launches us dynamically into the action without preamble but that was not clear to
the company when first approaching this scene. The text, like most early modern texts,
lacks clear stage directions and the dialogue appeared flat and repetitive. The SQM
company had to work hard to find the implied stage action; our key staging interpretations
are annotated in notes on specific moments in the scene. The scene introduces the
audience to the play’s protagonist, Prince Harry, immediately after he has robbed
his king’s receivers (tax-collectors). Unlike Shakespeare’s Hal the prince of this
play does not indicate that he is engaged in a political masquerade. As director,
I wanted to ensure that our performances of the Queen’s Men plays were not distorted by our knowledge of the use Shakespeare made of the same stories. From the outset of the play the prince is an unapologetic bad boy, playfully and
enthusiastically reveling in his misbehavior. Our nationalistic interpretation of the play depended on the audience identifying with the prince as their hero. Paul Hopkins’ charismatic performance was a powerful factor in their reception of the play. The
prince’s lines are full of rhetorical questions, such as
Now sirs, how like you this? Was this not bravely done?(Sc1 Sp39). In performance, the character’s demand for affirmation of his deeds worked on the audience as well as the other characters on t-he stage. As the original Queen’s Men were formed in part to promote English nationalism, our interpretation of the prince was designed to make this prodigal son an engaging and sympathetic English hero. In this scene, Hopkins worked with the younger actors to generate a manly camaraderie that came to define the spirit of the SQM performance as a whole. To that end, the poor victims of his crime, his father’s Receivers, were played for comedy rather than sympathy. As with all of our performance choices, other options were possible.
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Enter
The company chose to stagger the entrances to make sense of the prince’s first line
Come away(Sc1 Sp1). Why would he say
Come awayif his friends are already on stage? We began the show with the ominous beating of a drum to build suspense and then the prince dashed on as if arriving directly from the scene of the crime. After finding a safe spot and looking around to check all was clear, he called on his companions.
Prince Henry
As Henry is not yet king and undergoes considerable character transformation when
he does become king, the quarto’s
Henry 5has been emended to Prince Henry in speech prefixes until he is crowned.
five hundred pound
Early modern collective nouns did not always make a difference between singular and
plural, as in pound and pounds.
But tell me
Paul Hopkins (Prince Henry) took on an attitude of mock contrition when asking this question.
He made it clear that if anything he was proud of his villainy and not questioning
his actions.
rob
The robbing of the receivers (tax and rent collectors) was a well-known element of
numerous 16th-century English accounts of Prince Henry’s youth.
Stow relates that Prince Henry
wold waite in disguised araye for his owne receyuers, and distresse them of theyre money: and sometimes at suche enterprices both he and his company wer surely beaten: and when his receiuers made to him their complaints, how they were robbed in their coming vnto him, he wold giue them discharge of so much mony as they had lost, and besides that, they should not depart from him without great rewards for their trouble and vexation, especially they should be rewarded that best hadde resisted hym and his company, and of whom he had receyued the greatest and most strokes(Stow 583). Shakespeare dramatizes the robbing of the receivers and other travellers in Henry IV, Part 1 2.2, turning it into an opportunity for Prince Harry to demonstrate Falstaff’s cowardice.
trick
Witty bit of tomfoolery, not a criminal act.
Sir John Oldcastle
Historically, although he was Prince Henry’s companion before Henry became king, Sir
John Oldcastle (1378–1417) was executed in 1417 after having been found guilty of
heresy in 1413 and having been implicated in various revolts against Henry between
1413 and 1417 (Dockray 53, 105–110).
Sir John became Lord Cobham in 1408 when he married Joan Cobham, heiress of the third
Lord Cobham. Oldcastle’s heretical beliefs derived from those of the proto-Protestant
fourteenth-century Oxford scholar John Wycliffe, and sixteenth-century Protestant
reformers like John Foxe considered Oldcastle to be a martyr (Corbin and Sedge 2). Famous Victories, however, indicates the existence of another view of Oldcastle
by its drawing together of the traditions of riot and misrule associated with Oldcastle and Prince Henry,as does Shakespeare in the construction of his character Falstaff, who was, evidence suggests, initially called Oldcastle in Henry IV, Part 1. Scholars have speculated that Shakespeare was forced to change the name because of complaints from the Cobham family (Corbin and Sedge 1–10).
The text makes no references to Jockey’s size or age. We therefore resisted the temptation
to make him appear a proto-Falstaff, costuming him as a sharply dressed young companion
to the prince in a black satin suit and rakish cream hat.
Zounds
God’s wounds!(oath).
This exclamation also alerts the audience to Jockey’s entrance as a comic double-take.
Enter Jockey
The logic of the text suggested to the company that Jockey should enter after
away(Sc1 Sp11), since the prince’s next sentence suggests he can now see Jockey. Play texts from the period, however, often mark an entrance after a character’s arrival has already been announced. The original actors would have been comfortable with the convention that they could
seecharacters approaching from back stage, but this seems unnatural to modern actors and we often create business to make the entrance obey the logic of naturalism. In this instance, David Kynaston (Jockey) took the word
awayas his cue to make noise off-stage. The Prince, Ned and Tom drew their swords, as if fearing they had been followed, and then reacted with relief when they saw it was their friend at Sc1 Sp11. The suggestion that the moment could be an opportunity for a comic double-take is a viable alternative. See note at Sc1 Sp11. See also
Here come the receivers(Sc1 Sp19).
passeth
Is current; is noteworthy.
Deptford
Town four miles east of London (Sugden 150).
hue and cry
Outcry calling for the pursuit of a felon(OED hue and cry, n. 1.a).
Any man hearing the hue and cry was legally obliged to join the pursuit, which a contemporary
source describes thus:
The maner of their hue and cry […] is that if a robberie be done, a horne is blowne, and an out crie made: after which, if the partie flie away, and not yeeld himselfe to the Kings Bayliffe, he may be lawfully slaine, and hanged vp vpon the next gallows(Cowell).
carrier
Someone who carries things, bearer (of goods).
Carriers conveyed letters and goods and escorted travellers between London and provincial
towns. They constituted an informal but important communications and transportation
network that connected the capital and the provinces in the early modern period. Carriers
were legally liable for the goods entrusted to them (Stewart 437, 457), so by robbing the
poor carrier(Derrick), Prince Henry’s man (Cutbert Cutter) has inflicted a serious financial as well as physical blow upon the carrier.
booties
Targets for plunder, to be shared by the thieves.
skills
Makes a difference, matters.
Ay, I may
Paul Hopkins (Prince Henry) played these three sentences as distinct actable moments, or beats, as we call them. Initially he was disgusted that his servant had robbed a
poor carrier(Sc1 Sp15); then he boastfully announced that he would save him from the law anyway. To help motivate the final sentence, Hopkins asked the other actors to react to this announcement with surprise, so he could then respond defiantly with:
Ay, I may.
belammed
Beat, thrashed.
Paul Hopkins (Prince Henry) rubbed his shoulder at this point to indicate just where the pain
was located. This action helped set up the gag later in the scene (see Sc1 Sp34).
bravely
Splendidly, finely, excellently.
They place
Because in rehearsal the company found that placing the bags on the stage and looking
at them was anticlimactic, they developed a piece of business to punctuate the moment.
As the prince said his next line,
Now, by heaven, here’s a brave show!(Sc1 Sp19), they all drew their swords and at the end of the line thrust them over the bags with a cry of
Ha!It worked well to enhance the sense of manly camaraderie that the actors generated in this scene.
I will … tonight
Contrast this to Prince Hal’s resolution in Henry IV, Part 1 that
the money shall be paid back again, with advantage(1H4 2.4.453).
two Receivers
These characters could be figures that arouse sympathy. They are charged with collecting
and protecting the king’s money, have been robbed, and now fear hanging. I directed
the SQM company to play them as figures of fun. Playing these two characters as comical
characters diluted the impact of the prince’s threats to them. They were still sympathetic
figures and their fear had the potential to raise questions about the Prince’s behavior,
but the pity arousing from their reactions was tempered by laughter. The effect was
to create a scene of boyish ribaldry that invited the audience to share in the fun
of the wayward prince’s antics even while they might be sympathizing with his victims.
The scene still opens up issues about the rule of law and the abuse of power but as
is typical of Queen’s Men dramaturgy it does so playfully.
villains
Low-born vulgar rustics (an insult based on social class); not a charge of evil-doing.
Speak … him
In this series of lines the Receivers each try to avoid speaking to the prince. The
play-editor has added editorial asides to indicate where the lines should be addressed.
In rehearsal, the actors also developed physical business as each Receiver tried to
push the other to the front to deal with the apparently angry prince.
Forsooth
Truly.
cut … heads
Paul Hopkins (Prince Henry) played up the mock anger to enhance the fun for the audience, who
know he is the one who stole the money. We emphasized the importance of direct address in the SQM productions encouraging actors to deliver their lines to the audience
whenever possible. Hopkins used this technique to maximum advantage in this role creating an open and playful
relationship with the audience and exploiting opportunities to enjoy a dramatic irony.
Robbed?
Paul Hopkins (Prince Henry) yelled this word at the Receivers with an exaggerated sense of outrage
which made the Receivers jump and the audience laugh because they knew him to be the
robber. The Receivers huddled together, comically quaking in their boots.
Marry
Emphatic expression of surprise or indignation. Variant of Mary, mother of Christ
(OED marry, int. 1).
hobby
Small light-footed horse bred in Ireland.
nag
Small riding-horse, bred for a comfortable walking pace, usually for ladies.
Gog’s
God’s.
Blood
God’s blood!(oath).
belammed him
As the Receivers repeated his exact words from earlier in the scene, the prince rubbed
his shoulder again slightly to enhance the effect of the dramatic irony. See note
at Sc1 Sp17.
away your money
Paul Hopkins (Prince Henry) drew his sword at this point and leveled it at the Receivers who promptly
dropped to their knees. In his next line he instructs them to
stand up(Sc1 Sp38), and so it made sense that they should kneel. As is typical of early modern work, there is no stage direction in the original text. The exact moment where they should kneel is a matter of interpretation. If they kneel following their next line (Sc1 Sp36), where they beg for mercy, as suggested in this edition, the movement would also make sense.
Was not … done
An example of the rhetorical questions mentioned in the performance headnote. Not
all audience members either early modern or contemporary would necessarily empathize
with this young and nationalistic braggart, but Hopkins’ charisma gave us a sense of how an actor might exploit the text in order to maximize
his character’s appeal to the audience. His response to textual clues such as these
contributed significantly to the development of the SQM company style.
Now, whither
Paul Hopkins (Prince Henry) added a pause before saying this line. The text does not so indicate,
but then early modern texts never indicate pauses. Actors today have learned to make
sense of the journey from the end of one line to the beginning of the next. They need
a sense of logic that justifies their character’s actions and lines. In this instance,
Hopkins was intrigued by the fact that no sooner had one escapade ended than the prince was
looking for the next. He felt there was something restless about this character and
the pause he added served to bring focus to that quality. Curiously, he had discovered
the same quality in the King of Gallia, the character he played in King Leir. Was this simply his personal inclination as an actor? Or does it reveal that the
Queen’s Men’s casting allowed their actors to play to their strengths, performing similar characters in their different plays?
Feversham
A town in Kent on a creek of the East Swale, 47 m. East of London and 8 m. West of Canterbury(Sugden 190).
old tavern
Public house, or pub, serving food and alcohol and often with some rooms for travellers.
Bullough identifies the tavern as the Boar’s Head, noting that in Henry IV, Part 2, Bardolph calls it
the old place […] in Eastcheap(2H4 6.19). Stow, however, writes that
the Garland in Little East Cheape, sometime a brewhouse, with a garden on the back side, adjoining to the garden of Sir John Philpot, was the chief house in this East Cheape(Stow 189).
Eastcheap
London market (or
cheap) street, containing mainly butchers’ stalls.
Eastcheap ran
East from the junction of Cannon Street and Gracechurch Street to Great Tower Street. The famous Boar’s Head Tavern was at the West end(Sugden 165). Stow writes,
this Eastcheape is now a flesh market of butchers there dwelling on both sides of the street(Stow 194).
pretty wench
in their tongues
Paul Hopkins (Prince Henry) also played the young Prince Edward in Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay. In that play the prince dresses up as a court jester and plays the fool. Performing
the plays in repertoire, the SQM actors’ interpretations of one role often began to
color their performances in other roles (see also note at Sc1 Sp39). Paul Hopkins adopted the same silly voice for this sexual innuendo that he used to play the fool
in Friar Bacon. In performance I always felt that the connection between the wayward prince and
folly would have been seen as appropriate by an early modern audience for whom folly
was a frequently used synonym for sin (see Performance Intro). Sebastian Brant’s Ship of Fools, for example, was full of sinners not court entertainers, simpletons, or madmen.
We … fellows
Paul Hopkins (Prince Henry) gathered his friends together and stretched his arms across their
shoulders, which communicated the break in social hierarchy implied by the line. This
masculine and egalitarian camaraderie was infectious and came increasingly to define
the SQM company performance style. The atmosphere generated by Hopkins and the cast created the feeling that the Prince was a man of the people, even if
the effect was illusory since he shows scant concern for the poor receivers.
An
If.
we would … kings
Bullough points to Falstaff’s dreams of what he and his companions will do
when thou Prince Hal art a kingin Henry IV, Part 1 (1H4 1.2.13–14).
Scene 2
The Queen’s Men apparently found their contemporary volunteer police force, the town
watch, to be an excellent source of fun. They are featured in King Leir (27) and appear again here. The recurring joke, featured in many early modern plays,
is that the constables entrusted to watch the cities at night, the Watch, are incompetent
or negligent. The watchmen in King Leir decide they will go to the pub rather than watch, and the watchmen in this scene
are full of fear and prefer to sleep rather than protect the citizens of London. The
characters in this scene are indisputably clowns and the scene continues the knockabout humor of the play’s opening. It also introduces
us to the character of Derrick, the poor carrier mentioned in the first scene, a role
we can be relatively confident was played by the Queen’s Men’s star actor, the great
clown Richard Tarlton (Cockett). Although this scene is clearly intended to be comic, there are few verbal gags,
and led by Alon Nashman (Derrick) our principal clown, the actors developed physical business to bring out
the comedy of the situation. Since the Queen’s Men were renowned for their comedy
we might infer that the Queen’s Men’s humor was equally reliant on physical comedy.
The humor of the scene was not readily apparent on the page and it took a significant
amount of work from the company to unearth the latent humor of the clown parts. Nashman paid close attention to the details of the text but was given creative licence to
apply his clown training and develop physical comedy even where it was not specifically
indicated. The production notes in this scene document our struggles deciphering a
clowning text that lacks specific stage directions, pointing out the textual evidence
for specific gags, and indicating where the actors’ creativity alone was responsible
for the humor.
Enter John
To establish the premise of the humor—that the guardians of safety in the city are
cowards (see note at Scene 2 above)—our actors crept fearfully onto the stage assembling one by one in a tight
knit group.
Costermonger
Fruit vendor.
All is well
This line was declared once all the watchmen were gathered. We thought John Cobbler
was announcing that the town was safe for the benefit of his sleeping neighbours but
also to warn off any wrongdoers that might be close by. Building on the idea that
the watchmen are all cowards (see note at Scene 2), John wants to avoid conflict at all costs. Immediately following this line Alon Nashman (Derrick) created a gag by having Robin belch in Lawrence’s face. Lawrence reacted
to his bad breath and this stink motivated his suggestion that Robin should go to
Pudding Lane end(Sc2 Sp3), that is, go elsewhere. Nashman cleverly integrated this business with the text even though it was not built on textual evidence.
Robin
In production the director assigned Sc2 Sp2 to Lawrence Costermonger. In Q all the lines are assigned to Robin, which is clearly
incorrect as Robin refers to himself in the third person at Sc2 Sp3 and is given another speech immediately following the conclusion of this one. Rather
than reassigning the lines to Lawrence, the play-editor supposed that Q’s compositor
had made the common error of missing a speech prefix. He consequently reassigned Sc2 Sp3 to John. Given that Robin addresses him at Sc2 Sp2, logically John would be the one to reply in 107, and his hearty but condescending
my neighbor, Robin Pewtereris not at all odd. John might even give Robin a slap on the shoulder when addressing him and then give him a bit of a push off down the lane.
The designation of speech headings here is confusing in the original text as Robin
is assigned two consecutive lines. It struck me as odd that John should respond to
Robin’s question but refer to his colleague in the third person and use the collective
weto refer to himself and Lawrence, as suggested in this edition. The SQM company resolved the issue differently by giving both lines to Lawrence Costermonger. We also motivated Lawrence’s suggestion to send Robin to Pudding’s Lane End by making Robin an unappealing partner in the watch: Peter Higginson (Robin) belched prior to Lawrence’s line and Julian DeZotti (Lawrence) nearly swooned at the strength of his bad breath. It worked well in performance but I think this is an instance in which the intentions of the text are obscure and the crux cannot be resolved definitively. As director, I made a theatrical decision, whereas the play editor made the editorial decision; both have sound logic, neither is definitive.
Pudding Lane
Lane in Billingsgate Ward.
Pudding Lane ran
South from the West end of Eastcheap to Lower Thames Street(Sugden 422). According to Stow, the lane acquired its name
because the butchers of Eastcheap have their scalding house for hogs there,where they make
their puddings blood puddings, i.e. sausages made with pork blood and fat,adding that the
other filth of beasts, are voided down that way from their dung boats on the Thames(Stow 189).
Billingsgate Ward
One of the twenty-six wards or administrative units into which the City of London
was divided (Stow 109).
Billingsgate,
The principal of the old water-gates of London, on the North side of the Thames, East of London Bridge(Sugden 60),was famous for its fish market, and the coarse, abusive language of its fishwives had by the middle of the 17th century at the latest given rise to the generic term Billingsgate-Rhetorick (Culpeper).
toward
Promising, forward.
let to talk
Refrain from talking.
taking
Stealing, thieving.
begin to sleep
Using this line as inspiration, Alon Nashman (Derrick) created a sleeping gag by having Lawrence lean against his halberd, fall
asleep and start snoring, as he exhaled he slid further down the pole of his weapon.
This business prompted John to notice his neighbor needed a nap. Even though there
is no stage direction, there is textual justification for this gag since logically
John should see Lawrence begin to sleep before pointing it out. In performance, John
Cobbler’s line:
Methinks you begin to sleep(Sc2 Sp10) became funny because Lawrence was clearly fast asleep at this point.
Enter Derrick roving
Peter Thomson argues that comic entrances were a central part of Tarlton’s clowning
(Thomson) and Derrick’s sudden entrance and equally sudden exit here certainly seem designed
for comic effect. Alon Nashman (Derrick) took full license to enjoy this moment dashing around the sleeping watchmen
sharing his horror at being robbed with the audience before skipping off the other
side.
no horses
John’s line is presumably a reference to the fact that Derrick is saying
Whoa!In the SQM production this did not read very clearly because the sound of Alon Nashman’s delivery resembled a cry of fear and panic rather than an instruction to a horse.
clown
Peasant, rural individual; comic actor.
silk apparel
English law forbade anyone below the rank of knight or with less than 20 pounds annual
income or 200 pounds worth of goods to wear silk (Bailey 28). Such laws were frequently ignored, however.
The implication here, if taken literally, is that Derrick, the poor carrier, is dressed
in silk, a material that sumptuary laws dictated could only be worn by the upper classes.
In the context of the original performance, dressing Tarlton, who was a clown actor
and played clown (rustic) characters in
silk apparel,would have been an interesting juxtaposition. In our production, however, we felt that it would have made it difficult for the audience to process the character’s social status. Instead Alon Nashman patted his hempen jerkin as if the line were an ironic reference. It never really worked but I still cannot think of an adequate solution to this costuming problem for a modern production.
Kent
County in South East England, bordering Greater London to the North West,
notorious for highway robberies(Sugden 292).
To John
From Sc2 Sp21 it is clear that this line is addressed to John, who has just seized Derrick. Derrick
is questioning John’s authority by asking him if he is Master Constable and refusing
to accept the authority of Robin, who was the one who commanded John to seize him
at Sc2 Sp18.
In rehearsal, and working from the quarto text that lacks this stage direction, it
was unclear where this line should be directed. Alon Nashman (Derrick) wanted to know who Derrick would not
take the lawfrom and why. The original text is inconclusive in this regard. Since John had seized Derrick at 2, Nashman felt that Derrick was not happy about “taking the law” from John. He therefore addressed this line to Lawrence not to John, telling the person he thought was the master constable that he refused to take the law from John’s hands. Since he was literally in John’s hands at this point, the actors’ choice made sense. The suggestion that he is objecting to the character making the command also makes sense.
Master Constable
Head constable.
Unpaid local constables were elected annually by their parishes and were under the
control of a High Constable, who reported to the justices of the peace at quarters
sessions (Sharpe 33–34). According to Stow, Billingsgate Ward had eleven constables (Stow 189).
bade
Appointed, proclaimed. Past participle of bid, to announce, proclaim, command, enjoin
(OED bid, v.1 3.10).
Pronounced like
bad(which is how it is spelled in Q1), creating humorous punning possibilities that Derrick exploits when he calls John one of the Master Constable’s
beastly officers(Sc2 Sp24).
draws his sword
Another stage direction not present in the original. This edition’s editorial choice
here matches the SQM performance solution and both were prompted by John’s later request
that Derrick
put it up(Sc2 Sp27), i.e. put away his weapon. Alon Nashman (Derrick) was given a wooden dagger for use as a weapon for his clown characters in all three plays. The Elizabethan clown character was the theatrical descendent of the stage Vice, a character we know carried a wooden dagger. Shakespeare’s Feste famously refers to it as a
dagger of lath(TN 4.2.104).
the law … hands
If
hisrefers to the Master Constable, then Derrick follows up his refusal to take the law at Robin’s hands by insisting that he will take the law from no one other than the highest authority, i.e. the Master Constable (see Sc2 Sp20). If
hisrefers to Robin, then Derrick conceivably is threatening to take the law into his own hands against Robin, which would be consonant with Derrick drawing his sword and John’s imprecation in the following line that Derrick
not take the law of us.
We failed to decipher this line in the SQM production and Nashman kept the reference for
hisvague in his delivery. In retrospect it would have developed the logic of our choice if he had directed his attentions to John who physically subdued him (see 2). He would then have been threatening to take the law into his own hands against John. This section of text is open to other dramaturgical interpretations.
him
Robin, implying that Derrick considers Robin’s attempt to seize him illegal.
proper
Attractive, fair, handsome(OED proper, adj. 3.7.b).
The principal clown character in King Leir also refers to his good looks (Sc12 Sp12) in this manner. Tarlton was famously unattractive and these ironic references are
one of the key pieces of textual evidence that suggest these roles were played by
the great clown (Cockett). Alon Nashman who played the line of roles associated with Tarlton pulled a face here that allowed
him to stress the irony of this line.
Aside
In the following line, Derrick refers to John or Robin in the third person, suggesting
that the line is an aside addressed more or less directly to the audience.
Among the many choices for stage directions, an editor has to choose one stage direction,
because the line makes no sense if the reader thinks it is addressed to the constables.
The character may mutter to himself, he may speak directly to the audience, he may
speak to one other person who may not listen or comprehend.
Alon Nashman (Derrick) engaged the audience directly from the moment of his first entrance. Clowning
demands that the actor develop a direct and interactive relationship with the audience. The editorial choice to mark this line in the text as an aside makes sense but in
our productions the difference between an aside and other speech was only a matter
of degree, especially for the clowns. For this line Nashman was able to make the shift of target for his lines clear and the audience could understand
that his words were spoken for their benefit alone and that the other characters could
not hear him. Throughout the productions our principal clown’s asides felt like an
organic development of the close relationship with the audience he had already established,
rather than a sudden shift in address conventionally understood by the term aside.
Cutbert Cutter
Cutbert Cutter is named at Sc24 Sp54 but in his speech prefixes and the stage directions always called simply
Theefor
Theefe.I have emended to “Cutbert Cutter” throughout.
good fellow
Boon companion, merry lad, drinking companion (Cotgrave).
The reference is probably to Derrick, who has been spotted by Cutbert Cutter as a
fellow thief. The others may accept that he means
boon companionbut Derrick does not, and hence the Gadshill reference, as the next note indicates. The thief’s comment has a clear context for Derrick’s subsequent name-calling. An alternative reading might be that the thief addresses John or one of the other officials onstage, but Derrick’s reaction to hearing the words and the voice is what makes the scene work.
Gadshill
Derrick nicknames Cutbert Cutter after the notorious place for holdups, a hill on the Rochester highway, 20 miles SE of London(Corbin and Sedge).
Corbin and Sedge note that the analogous character in Henry IV, Part 1 is known only by this nickname. As Prince Harry and his companions plan their robbery,
Ned Poins tells them that
tomorrow morning by four o’clock early, at Gads Hill, there are pilgrims going to Canterbury with rich offerings, and traders riding to London with fat purses. I have visors for you all; you have horses for yourselves. Gadshill lies tonight in Rochester(1H4 1.2.97–100).
bots
Any kind of worme. Also a disease in a horse(Florio).
liege people
Vassals, feudal retainers, loyal subjects.
filching
Stealing, snatching, pilfering (Florio).
him
Derrick.
Vintner’s
Keeper of an inn serving wine.
Goodman
Title of respect applied to respectable householders and others under the rank of
gentleman (OED goodman, n. 4.a).
Robert
Robin is a diminutive form of Robert (cf. Heywood and Brome D2r).
John calls the boy Robert (Sc2 Sp51); this edition has adopted this later naming for the boy to avoid confusion with
Robin Pewterer.
Counter
A prison for debtors connected with the City court in London(Sugden 133) and
under the control of the London sheriffs(Howard 75).
There were two main Counters in Elizabethan London: the Poultry Counter and the Wood
Street Counter (Sugden 133). Howard states that
The Counters were open all night, and anyone caught by the watch for any crimes or disturbances would be brought to them and held there until morning(Howard 76).
this night … ago
In Stow the incident takes place
Upon the euen of Saint Iohn Baptist(Stow 573), 23 June 1410.
Stow narrates that
the kings sonne being in Eastcheap at supper, after midnight, betwixt two and three of the clocke, a great debate hapned betweene his men and men of the Courte, lasting an houre, til the Maior and Sherifes with other Citizens ceased the same: for the which afterward the sayde Maior, Sherifes, and Aldermen, were sent for to appeare before the kyng, to answeare(Stow 573).
noise
Group, band, consort.
pots
Drinking mugs or cups.
fray
Brawl, riot, breach of the peace. From Anglo-Norman legal term affray, breach of the
peace (OED fray, n.1 3.a).
mayor
Sir Richard Marlow, ironmonger (Stow 572). The context clearly indicates that Q1’s Maior is Mayor not Major. Q1 retains this
spelling of mayor throughout, and in this edition subsequent occurences have been
silently modernized.
sheriff
Along with a mayor, London was governed by two sheriffs elected annually (Stow 442–444). The two sheriffs elected on 28 September 1409 were John Lawe and William Chicheley
(Stow 572). The play may be referring to either one of them here or may be referring to no
specific historical individual, compressing the two sheriffs into one for the sake
of dramatic economy.
sessions day
Days on which prisoners were formally indicted.
There were between ten and twelve indictment sessions annually at Newgate (Archer 218).
country
Local (Thomas). Alternatively, country may refer to the point of origin of the offender:
The Counter was used for London offenders, Newgate for those brought in from the country(Sugden 364).
Newgate
London’s main criminal prison in the medieval and early modern periods.
Founded in the thirteenth century and rebuilt in the fifteenth century, Newgate was
used principally to house felons, many of whom were facing the death penalty (Bassett 233–235).
Scene 3
In the SQM production, we emphasized the sincerity of the king’s concern for his wayward
son, which we felt worked in counterpoint to the knockabout farce of the previous
two scenes. The scenes between the king and prince operate according to the conventions of morality drama in which a central sinner (the prince) is brought back to the path of righteousness
by a virtuous character (the king). Although the SQM productions led us to the conclusion
that all characters in the Queen’s Men plays were designed to be performed with a
naivety we associate with clowning, we made the aging king the emotive centre of the performance, childlike almost in
his emotions but deeply sincere. In rehearsal we experimented with playing up the
extremity of his emotions for comedy’s sake. We also tried to play the mayor for laughs,
who arrives to repeat the story of the prince’s misdemeanors we have just heard in
the previous scene word for word. Ultimately, however, we decided that this undermined
the dramaturgy of this sequence of scenes, which worked best when made to contrast
the frivolous capers of the young prince. Working to this end, Paul Hopkins (Prince Henry) and Don Allison (King Henry IV) were able to turn this sequence of scenes between father and son
into the moral heart of the play. This first scene in the sequence served to set the
tone for what follows and raised anticipation for the two storylines to collide as
they first do in Sc6 and then again in Sc8. The stage directions throughout these scenes provided one of the most fascinating
puzzles in the play as the text invites us to imagine that the stage represents multiple
locations at the same time. The annotations in this scene track the beginnings of
our exploration of this staging puzzle.
Earl of Exeter
The first duke of Exeter, John Holland (1352–1400), Henry IV’s brother-in-law and
Prince Henry’s uncle (Hall, Henry IV Fol. 10v; Hall, Henry V Fol. 7v), was executed in 1400. Thomas Beaufort became the second duke of Exeter in 1416,
much to the disappointment of the first duke’s son John, the earl of Huntington (ODNB).
Lord of Oxford
Richard de Vere (1385–1417), eleventh earl of Oxford (ODNB).
Henry IV
The play drops
Kingor
Kfrom its speech prefixes for Henry IV. This speech prefix and others have been standardized accordingly.
subject
Anyone under a particular sovereign’s rule.
unequal
Prejudiced, biased.
or whether … them
The mayor here repeats the Boy’s report of the
fray(Sc2 Sp54) from the previous scene word for word. The repetition of Robert’s lines in the mouth of the mayor encouraged us to give the mayor some of the naive quality the clowning gave to the Boy and the town watch. Philip Borg thus experimented with clowning the mayor, emphasizing his fear of the king’s wrath and struggling to maintain his dignity. In the end, we decided he should play it straight and support Don’s work to establish the gravity of the situation in contrast to the comedy of the previous scenes.
liked them not
Displeased or annoyed them.
fray
See note to fray, Sc2 Sp54.
brother
try
Test.
whether … tell
Whether you had sent them to test our impartiality in office or whether they were
acting on their own.
ward
Custody, imprisonment, prison.
wanteth
Lacks.
our answer
Stow records that the mayor and sheriffs
aunswered, they had not offended the Kyng nor his sonnes, but according to law stanched the debates: then the King seeing it woulde be none otherwyse, forgaue altogither, and they departed(Stow 573).
Exit Mayor
The king instructs them to
Stand aside(Sc3 Sp8), which conventionally implies they should move to the edge of the stage, but the stage direction in the quarto text that indicates an exit here worked well in practice. The Mayor and Sheriff exited to be followed by the king when he says
I will go myself(Sc3 Sp13). As in the later court scenes, the text invites the audience to imagine other chambers just off stage (6).
Ah, Harry … days
The king’s lament is a variation on the biblical King David’s, learning of the death
of his badly behaved son:
O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!(2 Samuel 18:33). The verse was a popular drinking round-song in the Elizabethan period and thus an important popular echo in this play.
Bullough points to Henry IV’s lament in Henry IV, Part 1 that Prince Harry is
the hot vengeance and the rod of heaven / To punish my mistreadings(1H4 3.2.10–11).
The broken syntax in the lines implies high emotion and was initially read as ironic
melodrama by our modern actors. Ultimately, we decided the king’s suffering needed
to serve as the moral counterpoint to the pleasure earlier taken in the prince’s vice.
precise
Scrupulous, strict, officious.
Scene 4
This was a gem of a scene in performance. The simple and sometimes repetitive prose
and Derrick’s comic interjections belie the complexity with which it explores issues
of law and royal authority. The scene invites the audience to enjoy the prince striking
the judge and then delight in the reversal of fortunes as the judge sends the prince
to prison. The two clowns Derrick and John are equally delighted with this scene and
replay it for our amusement. The initial inclination of our 21st-century company was
to decide whether each scene was serious or comic, but Queen’s Men plays are not designed
that way. Rather than aiming to create a consistent tone unity or a separation between
the serious and comic elements of this play, we found that pushing both to extremes was more effective. In this scene, the clown Alon Nashman was given free rein to develop comic physical business, Paul Hopkins as the Prince enjoyed similar licence, but David Kynaston (Justice) was challenged to maintain the dignity of his office while all clowned
around him. The collision between bawdy comedy and the Justice’s dignity raised serious
questions about the rule of law. Kynaston’s character is the victim of the Prince’s power but ultimately asserts the power
his father holds over all. The scene invites the audience to initially laugh at him
but then with him as he turns the tables on the arrogant son of the king. Kynaston’s Justice was both a priggish representative of judicial authority and a brave nobleman
resisting the tyranny of the prince’s actions.
Lord Chief Justice
William Gascoigne (Stow 573), the lawyer who was famous for his idealistic view of law as superior even to kings.
Clerk … Office
Officer in charge of court records; clerk of Assizes or Sessions.
bar
The barrier or wooden rail marking off the immediate precinct of the judge’s seat, at which prisoners are stationed for arraignment, trial, or sentence(OED bar, n.1 3.22.a).
The Lord Chief Justice refers specifically to a
barwhich implies that something on stage might represent a
barand this question led us to debate the creation of a physical set piece for this scene. Such a set piece, a
portable railing or barrier at which a prisoner is placed in trial/courtroom scenes,was a common property in Elizabethan theatre (Dessen and Thomson 20). I felt that having such a set piece on stage would create an opportunity for more physical humor and make sense of Derrick’s next line:
Hear you, my lord, I pray you bring the bar to the prisoner(Sc4 Sp2). I imagined that on this line the clown might pick up the
barand move it over to where Cuthbert Cutter was standing. We decided in the end that the gag did not justify the expense involved in building a set piece for this scene. There were no other trial scenes in the SQM repertoire of Queen’s Men plays. To make sense of the line without the set piece, Alon Nashman (Derrick) made a striking motion with his hand to indicate he hoped the judge would hit the prisoner with an iron bar.
bring the bar
Derrick’s comic inversion of the Lord Chief Justice’s previous line plays on several
senses of bar. Derrick may be expressing his desire that the Lord Chief Justice punish Cutbert
immediately and harshly (by beating him with a bar or rod or by bringing him swiftly
to the crossbar of the gallows). Alternatively, Derrick may be mocking Cutbert’s impending
imprisonment by insinuating that if he wishes in the future to get a drink, the bar,
i.e. the pub, will have to be brought to him.
At this moment Alon Nashman (Derrick) made a striking motion with his fist to make sense of this otherwise obscure
line. See previous note (see note at Sc4 Sp1).
an have … writing
If you already have it in writing?
Why then … him
The company decided to bring comedy to this moment by giving the Clerk a stutter.
There was no textual justification for this but since we knew that the Queen’s Men
were blessed with many comic specialists (McMillin and MacLean 128), I encouraged the company to develop any opportunities for comic business as long
as they did not create unwanted irony that mocked the serious moments in the story.
fourteenth … sovereign
Henry IV began his reign on 30 September 1399; he died in the fourteenth year of his
reign, on 20 March 1413.
belie
Slander, speak falsehoods about, misrepresent.
pack
Bag or sack for transporting goods.
Skins wherein clothes were packed in carriage;
A pack, a burden, a loade, a weight: also a charge giuen to one, or that one taketh on him;
a thing to pack marchandise in: paper or other stuffe, wherein occupiers wrap their seuerall wares(Thomas). Carriers were legally liable for the goods they were transporting (Stewart 457), so even though it is comical it is perhaps also understandable that Derrick here should express as much concern for the damage done to his pack as for the damage done to his body.
raze
Root, cutting.
bouncing Bess
Evidence suggests that Tarlton was a great improviser (Wiles 12–18) and part of the SQM experiment was to discover the effect of unleashing a clown’s imagination on the playtext. Alon Nashman (Derrick), our company’s principal clown, was therefore given free rein to create
comic business. Nashman turned these lines into a little physical and vocal ode to his character’s lost love,
Bess.
Well, what sayest
The Lord Chief Justice does not respond to Derrick’s line but continues with the task
of trying the thief. In order to exploit both the comic and serious intent of the
scene, David Kynaston (Lord Chief Justice) sustained an attitude of dignified disdain while Alon Nashman (Derrick) engaged in his extended business about bouncing Bess’s jolly buttocks (Sc4 Sp15).
whether
Whichever of the two.
young Prince
Paul Hopkins (Prince Henry) continued in the rowdy, boyish vein of his opening scene, entering
the courtroom with an arrogant swagger, fully expecting that his royal status would
make him immune to the law. His boyish attitude added to the spirit of the scene:
he embraced the fact that a courtroom is a public setting, opening up his performance
to the audience and imagining them to be present in the courtroom and once again sharing
in his fun. His jokes, directed at Derrick and the Lord Chief Justice, were intended
to amuse the audience on stage and off.
bound
Laid under charge, arrested.
villain?
At this point Paul Hopkins (Prince Henry) bent over to look at Cuthbert’s manacles and made a loud farting noise
as he did so. The text gives no justification for this action but its childish excess
served to exaggerate our sense of the young prince’s folly just prior to the first
moment where his behavior will be corrected.
man
Follower, employee, feudal servant.
man … hands
A man of valor, skill, or practical ability(OED hand, n. P1.g.a), with obvious ironic reference to Cutbert’s thievery.
button-breech
One that is pin-buttockt; or hath but small or slender buttocks(Cotgrave).
Of my word
I swear, I’m telling you.
quality
Attribute, characteristic, habit.
Hear you, sir
Modern editors of the play have considered Sc4 Sp34 to be a mistaken repetition of Sc4 Sp31 Adams, Pitcher, and Corbin and Sedge excise them. In production, however, the repetition
is the basis of comedy, accentuated by the increase in comic outrage registered by
Derrick’s shift from earnest at the end of the first iteration to jest at the end of the second.
Strangely enough this was the one line we cut from the production. Although repetition
can be comic, we could see no way to make this line work. It is simply too odd for
Derrick to repeat the entire line, word for word, especially since the other characters
still take no notice of him. Our intention was to perform the text as it has survived
without editing but in this one instance we could not make it work.
belike
Possibly, perhaps, it seems (Baret).
falls out
Happens, proves to be (OED to fall out, v. 5.a).
must needs
Am obliged to.
Tell me
Paul Hopkins (Prince Henry) at this point effected a shift in tone as the Lord Chief Justice’s
resistance to his will provoked the prince’s aggression. The scene shifted from ribald
comedy into serious drama. The SQM company became very adept at effecting such shifts in tone.
box … ear
A blow to the side of the head.
According to Hall,
for the imprisonmente of one of his wanton mates and vnthriftie plaisaiers he Prince Henry strake the chiefe Justice with his fiste on the face. For which offence he was not onely committed to streyght prison, but also of his father put out of the preuy counsaill and banished the courte(Hall, Henry V Fol. 1r). An earlier account of the incident can be found in Thomas Elyot’s The Governour (Book II, Chapter VI), in which the Prince does not strike the Lord Chief Justice. An anecdote from Tarlton’s Jests (1638) reveals the comic potential of the stage action:
At the Bull at Bishophs-gate, was a play of Henry the fift, wherein the judge was to take a box on the eare; & because he was absent that should take the blowe, Tarlton himselfe, ever forward to please, tooke upon him to play the same judge, beside his owne part of the clowne: and Knel then playing Henry the fift, hit Tarlton a sounde boxe indeed, which made the people laugh the more, because it was he(Bullough 289–290).
The anecdote cited above raises questions about the casting of the play. If Tarlton
played the judge, who played Derrick in the same scene? The story implies that the
company had the ability to improvise when called upon. Tarlton was famed for his improvisations
so this is no surprise. It would also have been an easy role for him to step into
since he presumably had been on stage as Derrick many times watching the exchange
between the prince and the Lord Chief Justice. The phrase
laugh the more(suggesting that boxing the Justice’s ear was considered amusing anyway) supports our choice to make the scene both serious and funny. Like many in the Queen’s Men repertoire, this scene challenges lingering twenty-first century assumptions about the division between comedy and tragedy.
Exeunt … Tom
Because the lord chief justice orders the convicted thief returned to prison, Cutbert
must remain on stage until this decision is given.
Well … hands
The Lord Chief Justice’s restraint shows up the prince’s immaturity and thoughtlessness.
In Henry IV, Part 2 Falstaff taunts the Lord Chief Justice about his mild reception of Prince Hal’s physical
assault:
For the box of th’ear that the Prince gave you, he gave it like a rude prince, and you took it like a sensible lord(2H4 3.163–165).
Your grace … father
Having chosen to keep the Lord Chief Justice separate from the clowning earlier in
the scene, Kynaston (Justice) found it easier to deliver this speech with a noble courage and sincere
conviction.
lively
Living.
prerogatives
Legal rights or privileges.
By hitting the Lord Chief Justice, Prince Henry presumed upon his privileges as the
king’s son. By committing Prince Henry to prison, the Lord Chief Justice teaches him
that his prerogatives do not overrule the law of his father the king, whose still
livelyperson the Lord Chief Justice represents. Although Shakespeare does not dramatize the incident, in Henry IV, Part 2 the Lord Chief Justice presents a similar argument when confronted by the newly crowned Henry V in 5.2:
Your highness pleasèd to forget my place, / The majesty and power of law and justice, / The image of the King whom I presented(2H4 15.76–78), he tells Henry, and for that reason,
as an offender to your father, / I gave bold way to my authority / And did commit you(2H4 15.80–82).
Fleet
A prison
on the East side of the Fleet Ditch, London, a little North of the junction of Ludgate Hill and Fleet Street(Sudgen 194).
Debtors and those held for contempt of court(Kinney 51) were committed to the Fleet.
’ssizes
Assizes, days on which court held sessions or hearings. From Law-French, meaning a
sitting (OED assize, n. 1.1).
England was divided into six assize circuits, which two judges rode twice a year.
The judges were authorized to investigate and judge all offences in their circuit
and to try the suspected felons in the county prisons (Sharpe 23).
Exeunt
The quarto provides no exit stage direction for any of these characters. Obviously
all characters other than John and Derrick must exit at this point, as the immediately
following action features John and Derrick clowning by themselves.
The textual editor has chosen to preserve the entry stage direction at 5 rather than emend it to a possibility indicating that John and Derrick remain on
stage after the others have left. The logic of this stage direction is to get everyone
officially out of the “courtroom” we have imagined on-stage, and allow the clowns
to re-enter and re-play the box on the ear. We need not assume that the place is still
the courtroom. Clowns, in any case, have special privileges: see, eg, Derrick’s roving
(2) in which he enters, exits, and enters again. See also Simplicity in The Three Ladies of London: he re-enters immediately after he exits to run away from Fraud, who wants to punch
him. The scene doesn’t change:
Let Fraud run at him, and let Simplicity run in and / come out again straight(). This freedom from convention is clown work. Of course, John and Derrick must exit at some point so that they can re-enter, either here at the end of the scene (which permits them to see all the action that they parody in the next scene, including their own exits and re-entrances) or earlier on, which would conform to the common Elizabethan dramatic practice of not having characters re-enter the stage to begin a new scene immediately after they have exited the previous scene. If the new scene returns to the space of the previous scene, what generates the comedy of John and Derrick’s immediate re-entrance could be their knowing violation of this common practice. They have sneaked back into a space they are not supposed to be in, the empty courtroom represented by the stage, or simply the stage itself.
The textual solution proposed here—to have everyone exit and then for John and Derrick
to re-enter—justifies the quarto’s direction for their entrance but it remains unusual.
Generally in Elizabethan drama, when characters enter the stage after clearing it
is assumed that they may be arriving in a new location and time may have shifted forward.
Characters sometimes leave scenes for no apparent reason in order that they may re-appear
in the scenes immediately following in a new location, such as in John of Gaunt’s
exit in Shakespeare’s Richard II (R2 1.1). Later plays designed for the private theatres changed the convention because they
began to insert musical interludes and/or trim candles between the acts of plays to
create divisions (Gurr). In the SQM productions we worked with the intention to make the stage directions recorded in the text work in performance wherever we could and our choice for this moment broke with that intention. We therefore
experimented with ways for John and Derrick to leave and re-enter, but felt that nothing
tangible was gained by this approach and could not get round the fact that, even if
momentarily, the stage was left entirely empty. This to my knowledge never happens
prior to the advent of the indoor private theatres. The example from Three Ladies and Derrick’s roving mentioned in the textual note are similar but in these instances
other characters remain present on the stage. Ultimately we decided the characters
should not exit at this point but remain on stage so that they could carry their amazement
at the boxing of the Justice’s ear directly into the next scene. While I agree that
clowns have special licence in terms of dramaturgy, having Derrick and John exit leaving
an empty, silent stage and then re-enter still strikes me as the more unlikely option
even though that is what the surviving text suggests.
Scene 5
The SQM production did not treat this as a discrete scene (see note at 4), instead Derrick and John remained on stage after everyone else exited and stepped
forward to begin this section of action. What follows is a classic example of Tarlton
drawing on the festive tradition of the Lord of Misrule in his clowning (Wiles 21–22). His character Derrick here inverts the social hierarchy by making his cobbler friend
play the Lord Chief Justice, and assigning himself the role of the prince. The comic
dramaturgy of the scene follows the familiar trickster-dupe motif. Derrick is the
trickster who has devised a way for him to give his friend a box on the ear. John
is the dupe who gets his ear boxed. In performance, Alon Nashman (Derrick) found ways to bring the audience in on the joke, while presenting convincing
arguments to his simple friend. Jason Gray (Cobbler) had what I think is the harder task of being duped. He had to not see what was coming when everyone else could see it coming. His performance of simplicity
and enthusiasm for the role play was as important to the success of the scene as Nashman’s trickery. Although the comedy broadened at this point, in the SQM production the
scene was not in as stark contrast to the previous scene as has often been supposed.
The SQM company found that the plays combined the serious and the comic and learned to shift quickly between modes and to allow both to sit comfortably side
by side.
Enter … John
In the SQM production John and Derrick remained on stage. See textual and production
note at 4 for a discussion of our differing interpretations of this textual crux.
masters
Since only John is on stage with Derrick, the plural
mastersmust be directed at the audience. Derrick is about to put on a show for the audience in which he tricks John into receiving a box on the ear. The SQM actors were all encouraged to speak to the audience whenever possible, but the clown characters used direct address more frequently, especially the leading clown characters, like Derrick, who we believe were played by Tarlton.
choler
Anger.
shillings
Twelve pence made a shilling; twenty shillings made a pound.
Slack states that
the minimum necessary income for an average poor familybetween 1590 and 1630 was two shillings a week or five pounds four shillings annually (Slack 81). The basic price of admission to a play in an open-air playhouse like the Theatre, the Curtain, or the Rose was one penny (Gurr 122).
Thou shalt … chair,
The play-acting offers an extempory clowning that echoes or comments on the significant
event, and reveals the character of the players as well.
In Henry IV, Part 1, Falstaff and Prince Hal take turns playing the role of Prince Harry’s father in
chiding the prince.
No, no
Alon Nashman (Derrick) made it clear to the audience at this point that he intended to hit John
as hard as possible. The two actors developed this into a piece of comic business
as Derrick gave one message to John and another to the audience. The scene is set
up as a classic piece of trickster-dupe slapstick. In Jason Gray’s hands, John’s simplicity made him an easy mark for Alon Nashman’s Derrick.
No, marry
The actors in the SQM company were working from parts. Alon Nashman (Derrick) and Jason Gray (John) discovered here that the parts miscued the dialogue because Derrick says the
same line twice and John’s cue on his part was
my man.In rehearsal, Gray repeatedly came in too early and the two developed this interruption into comic business as Derrick kept repeating the line and miscuing John on purpose. Palfrey and Stern have established that repeated cues were a common feature of the parts system and were used to create a variety of theatrical effects (Palfrey 157–305). The effect of the cueing here actually trapped the actors in one moment of action, repeating the same lines over and over. The actors tried to work this as a metatheatrical joke in which Alon Nashman/Derrick kept cueing Jason Gray/John’s previous line but I don’t believe it made sense in performance. The actors’ parts used in the SQM productions are accessible on the Performing the Queen’s Men website.
John
Much of the humor in the exchange between Derrick and John is generated by the way
in which the two clowns slip in and out of their assumed names and roles. The confusion
of play-acting and reality indicated in this and the following line by the two clowns’
reversion to their real names, for example, is followed by a very different sort of
confusion of the two when Derrick hits John.
In the SQM production, we tried to establish that the trickster Derrick was deliberately
addressing John out of character in order to confuse him. The comic business led up
to the climax of the slap and Derrick’s comment:
what a clown wert thou to let me hit thee a box on the ear(Sc5 Sp25).
mass
By the mass (oath).
course
Drub, trounce, thrash(OED course, v. 4).
straight
Immediately.
keep
Supply with bed and board.
brewis
Beef and vegetable broth (OED
brewis, n. 1).
trifle
Something small or of little value, but in this context possibly also a dessert made
of sponge cake, custard, fruit, and whipped cream (OED trifle, 3; 6.b), although the OED’s first recorded use of the word to mean a type of dessert is from 1598.
woodcock
Game-bird, about the size of a small chicken, considered food for gentry, like pheasant
or grouse.
capon’s
Castrated rooster’s. A capon has more meat than a chicken, and its leg is larger,
though not so large as a turkey’s.
rooting
Snuffling in the earth, like a pig; having sexual intercourse.
ringed
I.e., castrated. Pigs’ snouts are ringed to prevent them from rooting.
crab
Crab apple.
stale
Old and strong(OED stale, adj.1 1).
quail
Overpower, daunt, make faint (OED quail, v.2).
Scene 6
My interpretation the Prince’s storyline as a re-imagining of morality drama provided a great challenge for Paul Hopkins (Prince Henry) in this scene where he had to suddenly transform from royal bad boy
to penitent prince. Unlike Shakespeare’s Hal, the Queen’s Men’s prince is fully committed
to a life of vice before this scene. The SQM performance of this scene therefore enacted
a conversion, a spiritual epiphany in which the prince is
born new(Sc6 Sp49). Hopkins played the prince as playfully sinful and I wonder, in retrospect, if he might have been played more darkly. Would the original audience have been more likely to disapprove of the Prince’s sinful behavior? The stage directions in the scene also provide great interpretive challenges for the director and editor. This scene is an excellent example of the fluid economy of space both real and imaginary that characterized the Elizabethan stage. In the SQM productions we tried to create staging that satisfied the majority of the stage directions in the text. The evidence of the stage directions however is confusing and inconclusive. The textual editor arrived at different solutions from those of the SQM company.
Come away
The prince begins this scene with the same words with which he begins the play. We
decided that he should remain fully committed to his vicious lifestyle in this scene
until the moment of his conversion. Paul Hopkins (Prince Henry) therefore entered the scene with the same swagger with which he began
the play. Our interpretation of the Prince’s journey as a morality tale, demanded he remains committed to his sinful ways until the moment of conversion.
jar
Vibrate, grate,
make or emit a harsh grating sound(OED jar, v.1 1.1.a).
when I … things
In 1.2 of Henry IV, Part 1, Shakespeare echoes this phrase five times.
When thou art a king, as God save thy grace—‘majestyʼ I should say, for grace thou wilt have none— […] when thou art king let not us that are squires of the night’s body be called thieves of the day’s beauty(1H4 1.2.13–21), Falstaff jokingly implores Prince Hal.
Shall there be gallows standing in England when thou art king(1H4 1.2.46–47), he then asks, urging him,
Do not thou when thou art king hang a thief(1H4 1.2.48–49). Prince Hal replies by threatening to make Falstaff a hangman (1H4 1.2.53). Later in the scene Falstaff declares,
I’ll be a traitor then, when thou art king(1H4 1.2.115).
would be all kings
The prince relished his villainy in the SQM production and his opposition to the authority
of his father. Paul Hopkins’ (Prince Henry) enthusiasm was infectious, making the
merry world(Sc6 Sp10) he proposes attractive. Although later in the scene he deeply repents this behavior, I insisted there should be no sign of his coming remorse at this point. We wanted the moment of his conversion to be sudden, like Saul’s light at Damascus. The play draws on a Christian understanding of human nature.
thou shalt … justice
Prince Henry’s promise to Ned gives specificity to his previous meditation on the
carnivalesque world he imagines his reign inaugurating. See note at Sc6 Sp5.
fence
Fencing.
Many of the Queen’s Men actors were also Master Fencers, and an audience would expect
at least one lengthy fencing scene in every play. Even their great clown Richard Tarlton
was a Master of Fence (Thomson), their leading man Edward Knell was killed in swordfight (Eccles 82–83), and the company was famously involved in an affray at the Red Lion in Norwich where
members of the company leapt off the stage, swords in hand, to pursue an innyard thief
through the town (Roberts-Smith 110–111).
Since contemporary audiences could confidently anticipate scenes of exciting stage
combat, the SQM company hired a fight director to develop elaborate battle scenes
for each play.
fellow … courageously
The status of a thief-hierarchy is commented on in Jonson’s The Alchemist, and earlier in the several prose works on thieves’ cant, e.g. Thomas Harman’s A Caveat for Common Cursetors, or Greene’s cony-catching pamphlets, where the urban thief is the
heroand others his laughable dupes. Prince Henry’s valorization of the highwayman over other, less noble types of criminal anticipates such later literary figures as Ainsworth’s Dick Turpin and Macheath in John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera (1728). Prince Henry’s characterization of the highwayman recalls the popular figure of Robin Hood, but its combination of the criminal and chivalric may also be satirical.
buckler
Small round shield with a handle at the back (OED buckler, n.2 1).
doubt
Suspect.
Yet will … head
I will go to court immediately because as soon as my father dies I will put the crown
on my head.
Bullough compares Prince Henry’s attitude here to Prince Harry’s attitude in Henry IV, Part 2: Prince Hal concedes that although
it is not meet that I should be sad now my father is sick(2H4 6.31–32),
I could be sad; and sad indeed too(2H4 6.33–34).
the breath … head
Looking back at the performance now, I wonder if we might have pushed the prince’s
villainy further. The prince’s words border on the patricidal and could have been
played with much darker intent. Paul Hopkins (Prince Henry) continued the playful quality of the prince established in the earlier
scenes, representing him as a wayward youth bragging to his friends. Did this make
his villainy too pleasant, too appealing? Is the text actually asking for a more unpleasant
performance of wickedness at this point? Our version played it both ways, making the
prince attractive in his vicious life and following his repentance.
Cloak … needles
“
The SQM cloak of needles costume.”
According to Stow, when Prince Henry learns that his father
suspected that he would presume to vsurpe the crown, he being aliue,he
disguised himself in a gown of blew satten, made full of small Oylet holes, and at euery Oylet the needle wherwith it was made hanging still by a threede of silke. And about his arme he ware a dogges coller set ful of SS of golde, and the Tirets of the same also of fine gold. Thus apparelled, with a great companye of Lordes and other noble men of his Court, he came to the king his father(Stow 576). Tracing the gown’s symbolism back to a medieval Oxford tradition of handing out needles and thread to students at Christmas so that they could mend their gowns (Romotsky 157), Romotsky observes that sixteenth-century historical accounts of Prince Henry’s gown (changed into a cloak in Famous Victories) consider it to be a sign of his sincere contrition for his unruliness and his desire for reconciliation with his father (Romotsky 157). In contrast, in Famous Victories the cloak
symbolizes callous ambition(Romotsky 158) and aggression:
’tis a sign that I stand upon thorns ’til the crown be on my head(Sc6 Sp18), according to Prince Henry, to which Jockey adds
Or that every needle might be a prick to their hearts that repine at your doings(Sc6 Sp19). Later in the scene Prince Henry’s sudden repentance before his father is dramatically represented when he throws off
this ruffianly cloak(Sc6 Sp45) and asks for his father’s pardon. See Romotsky’s article on the history of the cloak of needles.
I stand … head
A playful and slightly blasphemous allusion to Christ’s crown of thorns. Christ’s
crown is his suffering; Prince Henry suffers until he is crowned.
repine
Complain.
gear
Business, matter.
had as lief
Would rather.
prating
Chattering.
gate
This editorial stage direction is necessitated by Prince Henry’s indication of motion
at Sc6 Sp20 and the Porter (or gate-keeper)’s question at Sc6 Sp21. In an early modern London amphitheatre playhouse like the Theatre or the Curtain,
a gate could have been represented by either of the two doors in the stage’s tiring-house
faĉade or by the central discovery space. It need not have been a movable stage property.
The Queen’s Men’s plays, however, were performed in a variety of London and provincial
venues, from inn yards to town halls, and exactly how the company represented the
gate in this scene would depend on the concrete conditions of the particular performance
venue and on the effect the actors were trying to achieve, as the director’s performance
note on the gate in the SQM production of the play fully illustrates. The location
of this gate may be at the abbott’s house of Westminster Abbey, where the king was
historically supposed to be attending a convocation of parliament; or it may have
been assumed that the king was at his own residence in the Palace of Westminster.
MM’s stage direction effectively marks the development of the stage action for the
reader. In production, however, we had to confront the different challenges of our
medium and the specific conditions of our performance space. Where did this gate come
from? How did it get on stage? Should there be an actual gate on stage? In dealing
with staging problems, the SQM company looked for the most efficient solution that
satisfied the majority of the stage directions in the quarto text. The text does not indicate that an actual gate is brought on
stage, but the Porter’s line:
What a rapping keep you at the king’s court gate?suggests that somehow there is a gate on stage and someone is rapping on it. Adding to the confusion, the quarto text does not mark an entrance for the Porter. Because we were looking for simple efficient solutions, we decided that we could not bring on a gate as might be inferred from MM’s added stage direction. Bringing on a structure to represent the gate either at this point or earlier in the scene would have interrupted the flow of the action unnecessarily. In keeping with the conventions of Elizabethan theatre, we decided to rely instead on the audience’s imagination. Ned simply went over to the tiring house and knocked on the frame. Once the Porter refers to the specifics of the portal implied by the rapping, the new location is firmly established in the minds of the audience. In rehearsal the Porter (Philip Borg), rather than entering the stage, poked his head through the curtains, which nicely referenced the small windows porters used in large castle gates and enabled a very sudden entrance. This had the added advantage that the Porter did not enter the stage—a possible explanation for the lack of a stage direction for his entrance.
Though … court!
Prince Henry is telling Ned that because they are at the court of his father, the
king, they both must restrain the violence they could elsewhere exercise freely.
him
Porter.
tables
Writing tablet.
stand aside
MM does not indicate if the prince moves at this point but the obvious interpretation
is that he should step to the side of the stage before the king enters. No exit is
marked for the prince and he is still on stage (Sc6 Sp39). However, the text does indicate an entrance for him (6) where the original stage direction reads:
The prince enters with a dagger in his hand.In the SQM production, the prince and his companions exited after saying stand aside which was consistent with our interpretation of the same phrase in Sc3 (Sc3 Sp8). This solution allowed the king to enter and bemoan his sinful son without having the son standing beside him on the stage pretending not to hear. Since simultaneous staging was an accepted part of Elizabethan stagecraft, it could have been staged without the prince’s exit as MM’s editing implies; but the fact a later entrance is marked for the prince suggested to us he should exit and return.
Enter the King
In the SQM production, the king entered in a sick chair. It was not strictly necessary
for this scene but satisfied a further puzzle with the stage directions that occurs
in Sc8.
he
The Lord Chief Justice.
him
Prince Henry.
wherefore
Why.
ill rule
Rowdy or unruly behavior, such as drinking, gambling, and whoring, that would convert
the king’s castle into a house of ill repute (Hollyband).
Oxford goeth
The original stage direction reads only:
He goeth.We can pretty safely construe the pronoun is referring to Oxford but we have no indication of where he
goeth.In the SQM production, Oxford crossed to the upstage left curtain used for entrances in our staging, where he met the prince and his companions arriving at the king’s chambers. The logic of the imagined space was confusing at this point since they were arriving at a space from which they had merely stood aside earlier, and through a different entrance.
must needs
Must.
I can … countenance
I cannot show my father the proper respect.
Prince Henry clearly feels his followers give him dignity and presence as a royal
heir, having to face his father’s disapproval. But his desperation to have them with
him suggests he is afraid to see his father alone. The complex situation allows the
actor to create a strong emotional impact on the audience. The Prince’s comment is
likely ironic given the rowdiness of his companions.
In the SQM production, Paul Hopkins (Prince Henry) played the line as if the Prince at this point had no desire to show
respect for his father, nor did he fear his father. The line was delivered as an obvious
ploy to get his pals into the throne room to witness his intended misbehavior.
Exeunt Knights
Oxford had blocked the Prince’s entrance to the stage, and the audience could only
see his companions peering in through the curtains. Having commanded
three noise of musicians(Sc6 Sp43), Paul Hopkins (Prince Henry) briefly stepped off stage and joined in a brief stanza of a song with his friends. This brief exit allowed us to satisfy the next stage direction:
The Prince crosses the stage to Henry IV with a dagger in his hand(6).
The Prince … hand
Prince Henry has not left the stage. He withdraws or stands aside, which is where
Oxford presumably
goethto fetch him.
Come, my … name!
That is, if you are going to flout or kill me, then do it now. The king clearly desires
the situation to end definitively: is he recognizing his son’s contempt for him, or
his own readiness to die at his son’s hands, if he cannot win him over? This is an
important theatrical opportunity to impress the audience with complex emotional response.
The analogous scene in Henry IV, Part 1 is 3.2, although, as Bullough remarks,
the treatment is very different(Bullough). Prince Hal is less concerned with renewing his soul than with refurbishing his reputation. He does not confront his father with a dagger in his hand, and, rather than claiming to be reborn at the end of the confrontation, he promises his father that
I shall hereafter, my thrice-gracious lord, / Be more myself.(2H4 3.292–93). Only after his coronation in Henry IV, Part 2, however, does he banish Falstaff and declare that
I have turned away my former self(2H4 18.53).
The stage directions twice indicate that the king should cry in this scene at 6 and 6, and this textual evidence became the touchstone for our interpretation of the action.
Don Allison (King Henry IV) had to convince us all and his son of the suffering brought on him
by the prince’s reprobate behavior. In our interpretation, the king’s grief was the
cause of the prince’s conversion. The prince is won over not by sophisticated argument
but by force of emotion and by his own empathy for his suffering father. The contrast
with Shakespeare’s equivalent scene is fascinating. In Shakespeare’s scene, King Henry
IV presents lengthy arguments about the harm Hal’s actions have brought to the crown
and to him as his father. Furthermore, in Shakespeare’s play Hal, of course, is not
a reprobate, he is only pretending to be so. The dramaturgy of the same moment here
in Famous Victories is more closely akin to the morality play tradition which often featured the climactic conversion of a central character that had fallen
into sin.
reprobate
Sinful, unredeemed, damned.
youth
Henry IV may be alluding here to the allegorical character of Youth found in earlier
morality plays.
In Tudor morality plays such as The Interlude of Youth (c. 1515), an allegorical character (such as Youth) is seduced into evil ways by
bad company, comprising allegorical characters such as Riot, Pride, and Lechery, and
often including the character of the Vice (Happé). Shakespeare may be picking up on this allusion to dramatic tradition when in Henry IV, Part 1 Prince Hal calls Falstaff
that reverent Vice, that grey iniquity, that father Ruffian, that Vanity-in-Years(1H4 2.4.372–373). In Youth, Youth ultimately rejects Riot and Pride and embraces Charity and Humility.
The SQM interpretation of the play and this scene was grounded on such an understanding
of the influence of morality drama.
manifestly
Openly.
My conscience … die
The suddenness of the prince’s conversion was alien to Paul Hopkins (Prince Henry). Modern actors are accustomed to characters who change more gradually, in line with complex psychological motivations. Here the sight of his father’s suffering
strikes the prince with remorse and launches him immediately into penitence. The idea
felt ridiculous to the actors at first and the temptation was to parody this moment.
By committing to a depth of emotional conviction and the suddenness of the change
of heart, the actors produced a scene that, although sentimental, was also touching
and made their characters’ sudden reconciliation convincing even for our modern and
largely secular audience.
whereas you … life
Although you think that I will try to murder you.
In Henry IV, Part 2, after Prince Harry has returned to his father’s chamber with the crown, Henry IV
tells his son that
thou hid’st a thousand daggers in thy thoughts(1H4 13.236).
pretended
Intended, premeditated.
I most … hand
According to Stow, Prince Henry declares to his father
how muche rather oughte I to suffer death to bring your grace from the feare that ye haue of me that am your naturall sonne, and your liegeman(Stow 577); then, giving his father his dagger,
I beseeche you in the honour of God, for the easing of youre harte, heretofore your knees to slea me with this dagger(Stow 577).
abolish
Abandon.
mischief
Evil, destruction, wickedness (Cooper).
I will … life
Becoming a hermit was a conventional indication of true penitence, and here the statement
acts particularly as a type of Christian protestant conversion frequent in the Queen’s
Men’s plays. Other dramatists also used such scenes. At the end of Shakespeare’s As You Like It, for example, the evil Duke Frederick is suddenly converted, abandons his usurped
crown, and becomes a hermit (AYL 5.4.143–145).
born new again
The phrase echoes John 3:7, in which Jesus tells Nicodemus that
Ye must be borne againe,and indicates the culmination of a process of spiritual transformation that begins when Prince Henry declares,
My conscience accuseth me(Sc6 Sp45).
Hall asserts that upon coronation Prince Henry
determined with himself to put on the shape of a new man(Hall, Henry V Fol. 1r).
Come … lords
The king demonstrates his forgiveness of his son by asking for his help, a confidence
in or desire for his son’s affection, instead of only relying on his attendant lords.
The stage business here can have a strong visual and emotional impact.
In the SQM performance these sections were indeed greatly enhanced by the stage business
developed by the company. In the interactions between the king and his son, they were
far more eloquent than the words of the text.
Scene 7
Although the prince has been reformed, Derrick remains committed to a life of revelry
and misdemeanor. In this scene, he plays a joke on his host John Cobbler pretending
to be insulted by the quality of the dinner served by the cobbler’s wife. The joke
picks up on the end of their last scene when John warned Derrick that he is poor and
glad of a dish of roots(Sc5 Sp32). Once again Derrick is the trickster clown and John, the dupe. Derrick charges onto the stage calling John’s wife a whore, and the hapless John follows behind trying to quiet him for the sake of his public reputation and find the cause of Derrick’s anger. Making this joke work for a contemporary audience was difficult on two levels. First of all due to the obscurity of the reference to
roots,or root vegetables whose edible part is below ground (carrots, beets, radishes, parsnips, turnips, and other tubers), which were lower class fare for the table. It was unclear to many in our modern audience that the rustic clown Derrick is assuming airs and graces by suggesting it is insulting to his dignity to be offered a
dish of roots.This class-based comedy is also enhanced in the original social context by the common vein of humor arising from cuckoldry, activated by the public insults Derrick directs at John’s wife.
running
Cobbler is running to stop Derrick calling his wife a
whorein the streets. John Cobbler’s fear of being thought a cuckold would have been immediately understandable to an Elizabethan audience but the impact of the humor was less immediate for our audience.
Hearest a?
Do you hear?
use that
Behave like that.
a narrant
Comic mispronunciation of an arrant; arrant: shameless, notorious, complete.
what … done
Jason Gray (John Cobbler) played this line as if he feared she has been unfaithful and that
he is a cuckold. Without the original cultural reference point spelled out clearly,
it was hard for the SQM company to fully tap into the potential of this humor.
prove it
It struck the SQM actors as odd that Derrick should offer to
prove itbefore he had indicated the offense. We decided that Derrick is still enamoured of his experience in the court (Sc4). Alon Nashman (Derrick) adopted a tone of the law court as he presented his evidence while simultaneously clowning the presentation of evidence. He tucked one leg under his other knee and bent that knee, creating the comic impression he was sitting at table. The little mock trial comically reflected the exploration of law and justice earlier in the play. It is a good example of the creativity the company clowns brought to the staging of the play.
barrel butter
Old salt butter(Bullough); butter salted and stored in a barrel for longer life.
The full scope of this joke depends on the audience knowing that a
dish of roots(Sc5 Sp32) and
barrel butter(Sc7 Sp7) are lowly fare for the table and that the rustic trickster Derrick is deliberately assuming airs and graces by expecting a more elaborate meat-based dinner. These reference points were largely lost on our audience. The joke still worked to a degree because Derrick’s anger was clearly out of proportion with its cause, and Gray’s naive distress was the comical reaction.
knave
drab
A harlot, a common strumpet(Thomas). Having called John’s wife knave, Derrick completes his comic reversal of gender roles by calling John drab, implying that John is a hen-pecked husband bullied by his wife. In the performance recorded on video, Alon Nashman (Derrick) reversed the terms by mistake. The joke would have been hard for the audience to understand anyway since it depends on the gender associations of obsolete insults.
is all well?
Alon Nashman (Derrick) pretended confusion and relief at this point, as if he was glad discover
he had not been insulted after all. He laughed with John and embraced him before promising
to go home and
break all the glass windows(Sc7 Sp11). This creative choice effected another comic turnaround as the hapless dupe, John, was pulled back from happiness into a new fear. Derrick and John form the classic clowning partnership of the trickster and the dupe.
glass windows
Given that glass windows were rare in ordinary homes until the late 16th century (Louw 9), Derrick’s threat may be empty bombast. Windows made up of panes of flattened animal
horn were used as early as the 14th century.
Another obscure reference that undermined the humor in this scene for our modern audience.
Suggesting the Cobbler’s house had glass windows might have been equivalent to Derrick’s
expectation that he could enjoy a
woodcock, a chicken, or a capon’s legthere (Sc5 Sp31).
Scene 8
The prince’s second visit to his father’s chambers repeats the emotional journey of
the first and reaffirms his penitence and reformation. It also features a series of
confusing implicit and explicit stage directions that presented a puzzle to be solved
for our performance. An extended exploration of the decision-making behind the staging of this scene can be found on the Performing the Queen’s Men website.
boots
Profits.
physic
Medicine.
remember … testament
Making one’s last will and testament was an act of death-bed piety. See the morality
play Everyman, in which the penitent character Everyman makes his last will and testament before
receiving the last sacraments.
unfeigned
Sincere.
Draw the curtains
Which curtains is the king referring to? One might imagine within the fictional world
of the play that they would be curtains around his bed (a feature of all beds of the
period). Does this mean there is a bed on stage? If so how and when did it get onstage?
Bringing a bed on stage at this point, or at the start of the scene would be clumsy
and disrupt the speed and flow of the performance. In instances like this, the SQM
company looked for the most efficient use of the resources readily at their disposal.
In this instance, we used the curtains of the tiring house which the actors closed
carefully as they exited the stage. An extended exploration of the decision-making behind the staging of this scene can be found on the Performing the Queen’s Men website.
Music plays
No stage direction calls for music in the surviving text, but the SQM production took
its cue from the king’s previous line (Sc8 Sp3) and played music at this point. The same piece of music was used to underscore the
king’s death and Harry’s subsequent coronation, for which we developed a short stage
spectacle.
I will go
Since the king is already on stage at this moment it appears that the prince is entering
the king’s chamber when he walks on stage. This line, however, suggests he has not
yet arrived in the king’s chamber. The success of this staging relies on the audience’s
ability to imagine that different parts of the stage can represent two different locations
at once. This dramaturgical strategy is known as simultaneous staging, used regularly
in the Queen’s Men plays and plays of their contemporaries. Hopkins chose to pause in the entrance to the stage which made the unfamiliar Elizabethan
staging convention easier for him and the modern audience to process.
whereas
Where.
dying
That is, dead.
wherein
When.
begotten
Conceived, engendered, procreated.
suffice
Satisfy.
Exit … crown
Corbin and Sedge note that Prince Hal exits the analogous scene in Henry IV, Part 2 wearing the crown (2H4 18.173–176).
The SQM production also followed the logic of the internal stage directions (Sc8 Sp9) and had the prince exit with his father’s crown. Since there is no reference to
this in the prince’s speech, the action was played out without words accompanied by
the music that was already playing. Paul Hopkins (Prince Henry) took the crown with great reverence both for his father, who he presumed
dead, and for the office he was taking upon himself.
easily
Softly.
for waking
For fear of waking(Corbin and Sedge).
remove my chair
This internal stage direction indicates that the king is sleeping in a chair not a
bed. Neither the quarto nor this edition of the text indicates when this chair was
brought on stage or that indeed the king should be sitting on a chair. It was this
reference that led the SQM company to create a sick chair for the king that unlike
a regular chair could be
removed […] a little backwith the king still in it because it had wheels. The historical evidence to support this choice and an extended exploration of the decision-making behind the staging of this scene can be found on the Performing the Queen’s Men website.
scrape
Amass, get possession of, collect, or bring together with difficulty (OED scrape, v. 5.a).
scrawl
Scramble; scribble, write badly (OED scrawl, n.1 1.a).
Enter Lord … crown
The appearance of the prince with the crown is an important visual leading up to the
reconciliation of father and son, king and heir.
Shakespeare expands upon the ensuing dialogue between Prince Henry and Henry IV in
Henry IV, Part 2 (2H4 13.222).
Why, how … mouth?
The SQM actors initially frowned upon the repetition of the action from their previous
scene and wondered if there were some irony at play that we were missing. I asked
them to commit sincerely to the moment that I felt worked to reaffirm the prince’s
reformation. In retrospect, there is an irony at play here since the audience knows
the prince believed his father dead. I am not convinced that the king’s anger should
have been any less sincere but perhaps I am wrong. The irony gives the scene a playful
quality and the prince’s penitence is potentially less intense, reading more as a
familial misunderstanding between father and son in contrast to the drastic spiritual
transformation of Scene 6.
Most sovereign … father
In Hall Prince Henry answers his father,
sir to myne and all menes iudgementes you semed deade in this worlde, wherefore I as your next and aparant heyre toke that as mine owne and not as yours(Hall, Henry IV Fol. 32v).
unmindful
Unaware.
how hardly … it
Henry IV usurped the English crown from his cousin Richard II in 1399 and throughout
his reign faced attack and rebellion from the Scots, the Welsh, and the northern English
nobles by whose support he initially gained the crown.
Howsoever … not
Prince Henry’s assertion is historically inaccurate. He may be feigning ignorance
here to avoid acknowledging the shaky legitimacy of his status as heir to the English
crown.
Having been a hostage in Richard II’s camp during his father’s rebellion (Seward 8–9), Prince Henry would have been well aware of the dubious means by which his father
came by the English crown. He would also have been aware that in 1398, before embarking
for Ireland to put down a rebellion, the childless Richard II recognized not his father
but the earl of March, another cousin, as the heir presumptive (Seward 9). Historically, the earl of March’s son, Edmund Mortimer, was the focus of a number
of rebellions during the reigns of Henry IV and Henry V, including the rebellion of
the northern nobles that led to the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403 (Seward 19) and the Southampton Plot, whose conspirators intended to assassinate Henry V on
the eve of his invasion of France in 1415 and place Mortimer on the throne (Seward 47–49). Shakespeare dramatizes the Battle of Shrewsbury in Henry IV, Part 1, where it is the culminating moment in Hal’s efforts to redeem himself in his father’s
eyes, and the Southampton Plot in Henry V, where its detection and defeat become the signs of God’s providential approval of
Henry V’s status as king. After sending the conspirators off to execution, Henry exclaims,
God so graciously hath brought to light / This dangerous treason lurking in our way(H5 2.3.180–181).
The SQM company were focused on the text of the play which seems relatively uninterested
in the history of its royal family. To us, the play was interested in establishing
Henry V as hero for the English nation. Furthermore, this speech served to finally
convince the father of the loyalty of his son. Paul Hopkins (Prince Henry) delivered it directly to Don Allison (King Henry IV) beginning with his body slightly stooped as if in supplication to
his father but pulling himself up to his full height for the end of the sentence.
The effect was of a private vow with very public consequences. As the play continued,
Hopkins would turn more of such declamations of intent out to the audience, who became his
public, his England.
I will … it
In Hall, Prince Henry declares,
I will haue the garland and trust too kepe it with the swerde against all mine enemies as you haue done(Hall, Henry IV Fol. 32v). See Prince Harry’s analogous declaration in Henry IV, Part 2 (2H4 13.349–352).
bullion
Solid gold or silver.
His former … less
We may read Exeter and Oxford’s statement as something other than either blatant hypocrisy
or sharp irony if we consider that the two might be alluding to events not dramatized
by the play, such as Prince Henry’s performance at Shrewsbury and in his father’s
military campaigns against the Welsh, and that they have consistently supported Prince
Henry, even when he was in disgrace with his father for his riotous behavior.
Paul Hopkins (Prince Henry) suspected the sincerity of these words due to his character’s behavior
up to this point in the play. The historical record may tell one tale but the story
of the play makes the nobles’ observations surprising. Hopkins glanced briefly at them with one eyebrow raised before his father continued with
his next speech. This action often got a laugh in performance.
The King dieth
Henry IV died 20 March 1413 (Dockray 93).
McMillin and MacLean suggest that the Queen’s Men were famous for their stage spectacle
as well as their expertise in comedy. The stage directions give us only a hint at
such stagecraft. Following the stage direction here to the letter would have resulted
in a significant anticlimax that left the king on stage alone. The SQM company therefore
created a dumb show which enacted Prince Henry’s reaction to his father’s death and
his subsequent coronation. No textual evidence supports the specific action we created.
Confronted with the challenge to make dramaturgical sense of the stage direction,
The King dieth,we followed our theatrical instincts. The death of the king ends one stage of the action and begins the next, and we felt that this transition and shift of rhythm should be marked theatrically. Other solutions are possible, but any production would have to deal with this issue in some concrete manner. The sick chair made the removal of the dead king’s body relatively easy which is another argument in its favor.
Scene 9
The reformed prince newly crowned as king demonstrates in this scene his commitment
to a life of virtue and martial endeavor against the kingdom of France. The scene
is structured around three comic reversals: for his old companions, for the proud
archbishop of Bruges, and for the fearful Lord Chief Justice. In the first two, the
proud are met with a fall and in the last the righteous man is rewarded. The SQM company
worked to enhance the audience’s delight in these reversals of fortune, increasing
their anticipation of the turnaround by committing to the bragging of the proud and
the fear of the Lord Chief Justice. We felt this scene was key in establishing Henry
V as the model of the English hero king. Paul Hopkins (Prince Henry) also managed to incorporate some of the playfulness of his wayward
prince into his dealings with the Lord Chief Justice, an element of his character
that became more apparent in later scenes and made the king both noble and entertaining.
I feel Hopkins’
charismatic performance of Henry captured the way this story of the reformed monarch
appealed to the English people.
Ah God
Scott Clarkson (Cutter) entered with great braggadocio. The scene relies on the dramatic irony at play. The audience knows the prince is
reformed, but his friends are unaware of the same. The more they relished their rewards,
the more we anticipated their downfall.
Gog’s wounds … dead!
In Henry IV, Part 2, Henry IV’s death is first announced by Warwick to the Lord Chief Justice in Scene 15; Prince Hal makes his first appearance as Henry V (2H4 15.43) to Warwick, the Lord Chief Justice, and his brothers in the same scene before he
later confronts and rejects his erstwhile companions, including Falstaff, in Scene 18.
I shall be
Here Matt Krist (Ned) stepped forward and stretched out his arms displaying his excitement and pride
about his upcoming promotion. As with Cutbert Cutter (see note at Sc9 Sp1), the more the knights relished their rewards to come, the more we anticipated their
downfall.
stinks
Conditions in medieval and early modern English prisons were generally bad, but Newgate,
the prison from which Cutbert Cutter has just been released, was notorious for its
poor conditions, especially its smell. Bassett states that
a ‘fetid and corruptʼ atmosphere hung about the prison(Bassett 244) and records the testimony of a 16th-century inmate who was nearly killed by the prison’s
nauseating odor(Bassett 244).
Prisoners in Newgate, as in all other prisons of the time, were required to pay for
their own food, bed-clothes, and lodgings, often at the extortionate prices set by
the jailer. Prisons had three wards: knights’ ward (1 groat a night with bed, private
room, another groat for sheets); the twopenny ward (twopence a day, reduced to one
penny if shared bed); the pit or hell with shelves for beds, no mattress, blanket, chamberpots, or food beyond charity.
Prisoners had to pay for their upkeep or rely on friends/ relatives. Poor prisoners
either starved or relied on charity (often mouldy leftovers from taverns) for their
maintenance (Bassett 245).
scabbed
Lousy (infected with lice), covered with scabs (OED scabbed, adj. 1).
angels
An angel was
a gold coin issued in England between 1465 and c1642, bearing the figure of the archangel Michael killing a dragon(OED angel, n. 3.10). First minted by Edward IV, when it was worth 6s. 8d., by the middle of the sixteenth century it was worth 10s.
when … crowned
Henry V was crowned 9 April 1413 (Dockray 95).
changed his countenance
Altered his demeanor, reversed his usual behavior; transformed himself.
The use of this idiomatic expression suggests a suspicion of hypocrisy, or merely
outward change. Only Jockey feels the king inspires spiritual change in himself.
This is another theatrical opportunity: Jockey is the only follower who feels changed
and uplifted when Henry is crowned. Ned and Tom are untouched, as shown in the harsh
reprimands to those two later in the scene, but nothing is said directly to Jockey,
although he seems to be included. The question is: when does the prince include Jockey?
Why does the prince fail to distinguish between Jockey and the other two? See Sc9 Sp18 and note.
In the SQM production we did not distinguish between the reactions of the different
knights, although MM has identified such a difference. The text suggested to me that
the Queen’s Men were not as interested in the relationship between Jockey and Henry
V as we are today under the influence of Falstaff, the charater Shakespeare created
in place of Jockey. In this scene Henry V does not address any lines specifically
to Jockey, and I am not inclined to read significance into the omission. Their discussion
of the coronation, however, contains important information for the actor playing the
new king. Paul Hopkins did an excellent job changing his
countenance(Sc9 Sp12) and his
seat(Sc9 Sp11). He adopted a more upright stance and a new stillness accompanied by a determined yet calm facial expression. Only when dealing with the Lord Chief Justice did he allow elements of his portrayal of the young prince to re-emerge.
embassage
Diplomatic mission, embassy.
into France
In August 1414 Henry V sent an embassy to Charles VI to demand the French crown, French
territories previously possessed by English monarchs (including Normandy and Aquitaine),
and Charles’s daughter Katherine as wife (Dockray 136).
French king
Charles VI.
Charles was a child-king like Richard II, and was overruled by four uncles in the
same way until he was 21. Charles selected better advisors to improve the French economy,
leading his people to call him Charles the Beloved, but soon enough he became Charles
the Mad. He became murderously insane, and the country ended up in the same kind of
civil war as the War of the Roses in England, the civil war that followed the death
of Henry V, whom Charles made his heir in the Treaty of Troyes in 1420. Charles died
in 1422.
Archbishop of Canterbury
Henry Chicheley (Hall, Henry V Fol. 3v).
Chicheley had been active in several political arenas during his lifetime: civic (lawyer,
mayor), academic (Oxford degree), and priestly duties until he retired at age 80.
Clearly he was a good political head to have behind the king.
The SQM production of Famous Victories was staged with only 13 actors, which made the doubling plot for the play a little
tight. McMillin and MacLean argue convincingly that the play was designed for 14 actors
and our experience suggests they were right but that the play with some adjustment
could be performed with fewer. (McMillin and MacLean 97–120). In our production, the actor playing the Archbishop doubled the role of Cutbert
Cutter, who appears earlier in this scene. We therefore delayed his entrance until
he is referred to by the king at Sc9 Sp21. For a full discussion of doubling in the SQM productions visit the Performing the Queen’s Men website.
dumps
Sour or depressed manners.
I prithee
I pray thee, I beg you, please.
mend thy manners
Reform your behavior (as I have reformed mine).
Henry demonstrates his own reformation of character by urging a similar reformation
upon his erstwhile companions and casting off their company until they do indeed convert
to protestant piety. The cue for protestantism is the word
reform.Compare Henry V’s rejection of Ned here and Tom (Sc9 Sp21) at to Henry V’s rejection of Falstaff in Henry IV, Part 2 (2H4 18.42–66).
terms
Choice of language.
dissembling
Hypocritical, deceiving.
Ah, Tom … forever,
Henry is cutting himself off from his playboy past to achieve his next goal of becoming
the pious self-righteous king.
Hall relates that Henry V
banished and separated from hym all his old flatterers and familiar compaignions, (not vnrewarded nor yet vnpreferred) inhibityng them vpon a greate payn not once to approche ether to his speche or presence, nor yet to lodge or soiourne within ten miles of hys courte or mansion(Hall, Henry V Fol. 1r). Stow narrates that after his coronation Prince Henry
called vnto hym all those young Lords and Gentlemen that were the folowers of his yong actes, to euerye one of whome he gaue rich and bounteous giftes, and then commanded that as many as would change their maners as he intended to doe, should abide with him in his Courte, and to all that woulde perseuer in theyr former light conuersation, he gaue expresse commaundemente vpon paine of their heades, neuer after that day to come in his presence(Stow 584).
Your right … France
In Henry V Shakespeare expands Canterbury’s sentence-length justification of Henry V’s claim
to the French throne into an extended disquisition upon the invalidity of the Salic
Law (H5 1.2.33–95), which barred the inheritance of the French crown through descent from female lines
of royalty, in Henry’s case through Isabella, daughter of Philip IV of France, wife
of Edward II, and mother of Edward III.
Following our SQM company practice of directly addressing the audience wherever possible, Scott Clarkson (Canterbury) and Paul Hopkins (Henry V) effected a slight shift in attention, turning their speeches out to the
audience as if their debate took place in public before the English court. In this
instance, the audience was cast as English courtiers.
Isabel
Daughter of Philip IV of France, wife of Edward II, and mother of Edward III.
King … Third
Edward III (r. 1327–1377) was Isabella’s son; Edward II (r. 1307–1327) was her husband.
Charles … king
Charles IV (r. 1322–28).
usurped Frenchman
Charles VI, who according to Canterbury has usurped the French crown from its rightful
owner, Henry V. Canterbury, of course, fails to mention that Henry V is himself the
son of a usurping Englishman, Henry IV.
Scotland … France
In Hall, the archbishop of Canterbury discourses upon
the old league and amitie betwene the realmes of Fraunce and Scotland(Hall, Henry V Fol. 7r) in an effort to persuade Henry to invade Scotland before France. Dockray states that
The security of the Anglo-Scottish border, always a matter of great concern to medieval English kings, became even more crucial when England and France were at war since the long-standing and frequently renewed alliance between Scotland and France was all too liable in such circumstances to trigger Scottish invasion of northern England(Dockray 228–229).
pensions
The duke of Exeter in Hall mentions
French pencionsas
the sustenainers of the Scottishe Nobilitee(Hall, Henry V Fol. 7v).
I thank you
Paul Hopkins (Henry V) maintained his dignified demeanor through his discussion of his right to
the French throne. The choice was supported by the character’s now regular diction,
which stands in contrast to his disorderly language earlier in the play. Paul Hopkins, with the support of the other actors, also made this a public court scene, casting
the audience as the courtiers listening to the debate between the king and his advisors.
In performance, we often used this strategy for such scenes and encouraged direct address to the audience whenever possible. In Famous Victories the charismatic Hopkins developed a very close and playful relationship with the audience, charming them
and ensuring they indentified and empathized with his character as the model English
hero-king.
he … old saying.
In Hall, the archbishop of Canterbury concludes his address to Henry with
the old auncient prouerbe vsed by our forfathers, whiche saieth, he that will Fraunce wynne, must with Scotland first beginne(Hall, Henry V Fol. 7v). The duke of Exeter immediately counters with
he that wyll Scotland wynne, let hym with Fraunce first begin(Hall, Henry V Fol. 7v), which Ely in Shakespeare’s Henry V repeats:
But there’s a saying very old and true: / ‘If that you will France win, / Then with Scotland first beginʼ(H5 1.2.166–168). Tilley cites Hall, Famous Victories, and Henry V in his entry (Tilley F663).
lord ambassador
The duke of York.
Commit
Admit or conduct (OED commit, v. 8).
Duke of York
Edward of Langley, grandson of Edward III and Henry IV’s cousin (Keen 552).
lord … Bruges
William Bouratier (Hall, Henry V Fol. 10r), archbishop of Bruges.
Monsieur le Cole
Gaultier Cole, Charles VI’s secretary (Hall, Henry V Fol. 10r).
the embassage
The French rejected the claims of Henry’s first embassy to France in August 1414.
Henry resumed negotiations with the French in March 1415, and a French embassy conveyed
another dismissive reply to Henry at Southampton in June 1415 (Dockray 137).
Archbishop of Bruges
The duke of Burgundy’s court was in Bruges; the archbishop’s role as ambassador reflects
the importance of the duke of Burgundy in the ongoing negotiations between Henry V
and Charles VI.
The archbishop is the first French character to appear in the play. The text of the
French soldiers scene suggests that the actors would have mimicked French accents,
but that is not the case here. I decided on the protocol that the nobility of France
would speak with only mild rather than ridiculous French accents. The French nobility
could equally be performed without French accents, but the accents played into the
nationalistic perspective we were responding to in the text. I asked Jason Gray (Bruges) to give his character a supercilious pride at the start to enhance the audience’s
delight when the king frightens him. The fall of the proud Frenchman is a repeated
motif seen again with the three visits of the French Herald and climaxing with the
proud Dauphin kissing Henry’s sword. To help the audience distinguish the different
sides of the upcoming battle, costume designer Linda Phillips adopted the national colors: red for England and blue for France.
with good audience
That is, knowing that we will pay attention.
Charles the Sixth
King of France from 1380 to 1422.
not minding … demands,
Not having in mind, or wishing for further slaughter, (but willing) to give in to
your pitiless requirements.
In Hall the archbishop claims that Charles VI’s offer is motivated by
pitie, as a louer of peace, to the extent that innocent bloud should not be dispersed abrode(Hall, Henry V Fol. 10v). Hall describes Charles VI’s offer as
a great some of money with diuerse base and pore coutries with the Lady Katherine in mariage(Hall, Henry V Fol. 10v).
not … kingdom
Not adversely affecting the French national treasury.
puff me up
Make me feel important and privileged.
perchance
Perhaps, maybe. The word suggests an offhand dismissal of marriage to the French princess,
although in fact the marriage was politically vital.
Prince Dauphin
Heir presumptive, or crown prince.
Louis, Charles VI’s third son, was dauphin from 1401 until his death in December 1415
(after Agincourt). After Louis, Charles’s fourth son John became dauphin until his
death in 1417, whereupon Charles’s fifth son Charles, later Charles VII, became dauphin.
Charles is the dauphin of Scene 21.
tun
A large cask or barrel(OED tun, n.1 1.a).
tennis balls
The tennis balls, and the insult they imply, become visible to Prince Henry and the
audience only after York has opened the barrel.
According to Hall,
some writers saye that the Dolphyn thynking kyng Henry to be geuen still to suche plaies and lyght folyes as he exercised and vsed before the tyme that he was exalted to the croune sent to hym a tunne of tennis balles to playe with, as who saied that he could better skill of tennis then of warre, and was more expert in lyght games then martiall policie(Hall, Henry V Fol. 9v).
carpet
Bruges explains that the dauphin intends the carpet to mean that Henry V is
more fitter for a carpet than a camp(Bruges 41); i.e. is better suited to the carpeted, indoor spaces of the court than the outdoor spaces of the military camp. Cotgrave defines a
carpet knightas
An effeminate fondling […] one that spends his whole time in the intertaining, or courting, of women(Cotgrave).
close
Secret, confidential. That is, the messenger is not responsible for the content of
the message, only for delivering it.
law of arms
Chivalric code of conduct in the use of weapons as well as gentlemanly behavior.
My lord … camp.
The dauphin is insulting Henry by implying that, while Henry may be accomplished at
such courtly activities as sports and dancing (on ballroom carpets), he is unfit for
martial activities (the field of war and the military camp).
The Constable in Hall tells his troops before Agincourt that Henry V is
a yong striplyng (more mete for a tenice playe then a warlike campe)(Hall, Henry V Fol. 16r). Although in Henry V the dauphin’s present includes only the tennis balls, the message of Shakespeare’s French ambassador is roughly the same:
the Prince our master / Says that you savour too much of your youth, / And bids you be advised there’s naught in France / That can be with a nimble galliard won: / You cannot revel into dukedoms there(H5 1.2.249–253).
pleasant
Humorous, witty, jocular.
Shakespeare’s Henry V responds almost identically:
We are glad the Dauphin is so pleasant with us(H5 1.2.259).
But tell … iron
Tennis balls were made of leather stuffed with wool or hair. Cannonballs were solid,
non-explosive projectiles made from stone, iron, lead, or brass.
Shakespeare takes this metaphor over in Henry V:
When we have matched our rackets to these balls, / We will in France, by God’s grace, play a set / Shall strike his father’s crown into the hazard(H5 1.2.261–263), Henry V tells the French ambassador, later adding that
this mock of his / Hath turned his balls to gunstones(H5 1.2.281–282).
rue
Regret, be sorry for.
broad seal manual
The Great Seal of England (OED seal, n.2)
The monarch authorized state documents by impressing the seal on wax and stamping
with his royal hand (theoretically); the wax stamp was attached to the document by
a ribbon.
In Hall, the archbishop asks for Henry’s safe-conduct under his
seale and signe manuell(Hall, Henry V Fol. 10v).
the hand … one
Echoing Henry IV’s words to the Scottish herald in Hall,
the worde of a prince ought to bee kepte and his wryting and seale ought to bee inuiolate(Hall, Henry IV Fol. 17r), and, more immediately, Henry V’s reply to the archbishop:
I would not speak that sentence the whiche I would not wryte and subscribe, nor subscrybe that lyne to the which I would refuse to put my seale(Hall, Henry V Fol. 10v).
I … England
Henry V repeats the phrase that he reportedly used earlier (Sc9 Sp13). They could potentially be read as signs of arrogance but for our understanding
of the play’s function promoting patriotism, the important factor was that he was
identifying himself as England’s king standing bravely against the French and inviting
the admiration of the English men and women in the audience. Paul Hopkins’ charismatic performance of the role worked to sweep the audience along with him,
rather than asking them to question the validity or morality of his actions. These
choices were made on the understanding that the Queen’s Men’s plays served in part
as nationalistic propaganda for their patron.
Exeter
Although Henry could be addressing either Oxford or Exeter, Exeter was Lord High Admiral
from 1413 to 1426 and therefore in charge of organizing Henry’s navy.
Southampton
Port city on England’s south coast, in the county of Hampshire and 75 miles from London.
Therefore come
On this line Paul Hopkins (Henry V) set off at pace to the exit only to stop suddenly on recalling his business
with the Lord Chief Justice. This was the first sign that the impetuous spirit of
the prince we enjoyed in the early scenes (eg. see note at 4) was still present in the reformed king. In his treatment of the Lord Chief Justice
in this scene, Hopkins allowed the playful prince to re-emerge. Impetuousness was a characteristic of all
the leading men assigned to Hopkins in the SQM repertory productions. The cross-pollination between roles was a striking feature of these performances.
chafing
Arguing.
Call in … England
Bullough notes that this
incident occurs before the Coronationin Henry IV, Part 2 (Bullough) and that Shakespeare’s Henry V merely
confirmsthe Lord Chief Justice
in his office(Bullough).
Why, how now
Paul Hopkins’ Henry V played up the joke for the audience. With an implicit wink to the audience,
he initially presented a severe demeanor that implied he was going to take vengeance
on the Lord Chief Justice.
Oh, my lord
On this line, Paul Hopkins (Henry V) placed his finger playfully on his lips and his physicality shifted back
to that of the youthful prince. By signaling that he was teasing the Lord Chief Justice
in this way, he at once invited the audience to enjoy the Lord Chief Justice’s discomfort
and increased their anticipation of the reversal of fortunes to come.
for revengement
Giving the trajectory of the scene a little twist, Paul Hopkins (Henry V) delivered this climactic line in a matter of fact tone and immediately
began to leave the stage. The moment was playful but also businesslike. In this way
I felt Hopkins cleverly combined the old prince and the new king.
let us … readiness
Henry V declared war on France on 6 July 1415 (Dockray 137) and embarked from Southampton for Normandy on 11 August 1415 (Dockray 115).
Scene 10
Scene 10 is an excellent example of the SQM company clowns mining the details of the text
to create comic action. The scene flies by on the page and the humor is latent rather
than apparent, implying physical comedy rather than displaying obvious verbal wit.
The actors, led by master clown Alon Nashman (Derrick), built on the evidence in the text and took licence to expand on its implicit
and explicit stage directions. The simple stage direction:
She beateth him(10) implies the original company would have created a slapstick fight at this moment. The SQM company, lead by Alon Nashman, used their imaginations and training in order to exploit this opportunity for comedy while still remaining true to the story being told. The result depicted a poor man leaving his wife to go to war, a scene both touching and extremely funny, creating a working class counterpoint to the historical narrative driven by Henry V. From this point on, it becomes clearer how Derrick is clerverly designed to be the comic foil for the English king. The premise of the humor in the scene is that John is terrified of going to war and that his dominating wife might make a better soldier than he would. A lot of the comedy arises from this inversion of early modern gender expectations. The hen-pecking wife is a popular image of misrule and comic pleasure in the play’s original context and Matthew Krist’s broad characterization of the Cobbler’s Wife played fully into the patriarchal stereotype. The impact of all-male companies on the reception of gender in performance is much disputed (Howard). I felt that the SQM company’s all-male cast worked at times to affirm patriarchal attitudes and at others to reveal them as social constructions. In this instance, the effect was conservative as the comedy swept the audience along with the idea that it is funny for a woman to be dominant, but you may watch the video and judge for yourselves. The production notes for this scene will document the specific choices that were made in the creation of the physical comedy and how they relate to the evidence of the text.
Enter … Wife
Bullough suggests that this scene inspired the recruiting scene in Henry IV, Part 2 (2H4 3.2), featuring Justice Shallow and Justice Silence.
The SQM company physicalized the struggle between the characters immediately by having
the Captain drag John by one hand while his wife clung to his other arm. The idea
arose from John’s words
let me go(Sc10 Sp2), which imply he is being held by the captain.
too bad
The idea that John will make a terrible soldier is central to the humour of the scene.
John is acknowledging as much here and Derrick has fun with the idea at Sc10 Sp11.
Oh, wife
At this point Jason Gray (John) accepted that he must go to war and shifted the tone of the scene. He became
wistful as he complained about his wife’s past mistreatment and expressed his sorrow
that he must now leave. He used these short lines to build up to the tears demanded
by the text (
He weepeth10), and his childish manner was both ridiculous and endearing.
Enter Derrick
Following Thomson’s suggestion that Tarlton specialized in comic entrances and exits
(Thomson), we had Alon Nashman (Derrick) march brazenly into the scene of the Cobblers’ grief equipped for war with
a steel funnel as a helmet, a huge wooden spoon as a weapon, and the potlid as a shield
(Sc10 Sp12). The inspiration for the costume came from Thomas Preston’s Cambyses in which the Vice Ambdexter enters the second scene of the play armed with kitchen
and garden utensils (Preston).
basillus manus
Besa las manos.Kiss hands; goodbye! (Spanish) (Bullough), with the probable bad joke “kiss my arse” (Besa m’ anus).
codpiece
A (padded) pouch attached to the front of a man's close-fitting hose or breeches to cover the genitals, commonly worn in the 15th and 16th century […] often conspicuous and ornamented(OED codpiece, n. 1.a). That is, it is an early modern jock-strap, protecting and enhancing at the same time.
We failed to make sense of this line. Kiss hands for an old codpiece? Whom is he inviting
to kiss hands, and why? In the end, Alon Nashman (Derrick) simply used this cryptic line to give a verbal flourish to his arrival
on stage.
Zounds, how now
Alon Nashman (Derrick) added a double take on this line. Having arrived ready to leave with the
Captain for the wars, he suddenly noticed his friend John and his wife crying in each
other’s arms.
I’ll tell you
Matthew Krist’s Cobbler’s Wife slowly peeled herself off her husband at this point and rounded
on Derrick with a clear intent of violence, playing into the stereotype of the hen-pecking
wife, and raising expectations of the fight to come.
cloghead
Blockhead, from clog (OED clog, n. C2);
A block or heavy piece of wood, or the like, attached to the […] neck of a man or beast, to impede motion or prevent escape(OED clog, n. 2.a).
pate
Head.
She beateth him
This stage direction is an open invitation to the company clowns to create physical
comedy. As is clear in the video, the SQM clowns under the leadership of Alon Nashman (Derrick) created an extended slapstick beating for Derrick at the hands of the Wife
that served to justify Derrick’s suggestion that the Captain should
press her for a soldier(Sc10 Sp15). The specific details of the fight have no further textual justification but we may safely imagine the original Queen’s Men would also have enjoyed exploiting the comic potential of this moment.
worry
To kill or injure by biting and shaking(OED worry, v. 3.a).
try
Test.
Press
Impress, legally compel to enlist for military service.
dost know’s
Do you know us.
Come
Alon Nashman found business within these two simple lines by changing the addressee for the second
sentence. The first
Come(Sc10 Sp26) is clearly directed to the Captain, but Alon Nashman (Derrick) then moved himself upstage to address his second
Cometo John and his wife who were still embracing upstage center. He patted John on the backside with the pot lid and then began a comical march around the apron of the stage, expecting his friend to follow.
embrace tearfully
The textual editor’s added stage direction indicates the need for stage action that
justifies Derrick’s next line:
Fie, what a kissing and crying is here!(Sc10 Sp30). The SQM company developed this moment into an extended sequence of stage action. Our musical director Scott Maynard sang the song
Will He Not Come Again?off stage, and the Cobbler and his wife performed a tearful but comic farewell scene, finishing with a passionate if blubbery embrace before Derrick delivered his line. While we were clearly taking a degree of creative liberty here, Derrick’s exclamation does suggest the kissing and crying should be excessive.
crying
Also wailing, roaring, sobbing (Florio).
come away
Derrick has just said
let’s awayand the Captain immediately says that he
cannot stay no longer.To make sense of the repetition of Derrick’s line the SQM company created more comic stage action. Here Derrick again began a silly march off-stage. This time John half-heartedly followed him, but at the last minute turned to grasp at his wife’s hand. The action motivated the Captain’s final line. He grabbed John’s hand an pulled him out of his wife’s grasp as he said
come away.
Exeunt omnes
The SQM company left the Cobbler’s Wife on stage for a moment. She caught a kiss blown
to her by John as he was dragged off-stage and created a brief piece of comic business
in which she let the
kisskiss different parts of her body. The company started up a new song here,
The King commands and I must to the war,that begins plaintively and then turns into a hearty drinking song. The music effectively punctuated the development of the play’s action, shifting from this tearfully comic domestic farewell into the more martial action that follows. On the page the action of the play flies by without clearly signalling changes of direction with obvious shifts in syntax and tone. The SQM company became adept identifying such moments and shifting the tone as needed.
Scene 11
This scene is relatively straightforward but also quite clever. There are two kinds
of Frenchmen in the scene: ones who fear Henry and ones who arrogantly mock him. The
Dauphin and the Constable are in the latter party. The French king is in the former
and is joined by the returning archbishop of Bruges and the fearful messenger from
Harfleur. To keep the production true to the nationalistic agenda of the Queen’s Men, the SQM performance played up this division since both attitudes enhance our impression
of Henry V if in different ways. The French King’s fear of the English king makes
Henry V appear all the more mighty, and the Dauphin’s arrogant pride makes us all
imagine the fall we know is coming. The scene thus helps to whip the audience up into
a patriotic anticipation of English victory. The production annotations in this scene
document the specific acting choices made in order to achieve this effect in performance.
Enter the King
The analogous scene in Henry V is 2.4, which also opens with Charles VI expressing concerns about Henry’s invasion
that the Dauphin attempts to dismiss. Bullough notes that in Henry V Exeter rather than the archbishop presents Henry’s demands and that the siege of
Harfleur, reported in this scene by a messenger, is staged in 3.1 and 3.3 of Henry V.
Prince Dauphin
The Dauphin is the model of French arrogance and I felt should be a figure of fun
in our overtly nationalistic performance of the play. I decided to cast Derek Genova, one of our company
boys,in this role. Derek’s slight build worked in juxtaposition with the character’s faith in French might and in his own prowess in battle.
Lord High … France
Charles Lord Delabreth (Hall, Henry V Fol. 19v).
Charles VI
Throughout this scene Charles VI is called King in the speech prefixes, all further
instances of which have been silently emended.
Charles VI
Don Allison gave the king of France a majesty that made him a worthy opponent to the English
Henry. His concern to protect his realm from a potential English invasion bordered
on fear and worked to grant respect to the play’s national hero in keeping with the nationalistic agenda of the original Queen’s Men.
Kidcocks
Chef de Caux, or Chef-en-Caux, port of modern La Havre, located at the mouth of the
Seine on the river’s right bank.
Hall calls the site of Henry V’s landing
Caux, comonly called Kyd Caux (where the ryuer of Seine runneth into the sea)(Hall, Henry V Fol. 12v). I have retained Q’s spelling because no adequate modernization, such as Quay de Caux, currently exists. Kyd Caux and Kedecaux appear in Stow but, although they might look more authentically French, they are not modernizations. What does exist in Le Havre is Pointe de Caux, one of the many names (St Denis, Chef de Caux; Sainte-Adresse) since the port town was incorporated into the greater city of Le Havre.
Normandy
French dukedom in northern France.
William the Conqueror was duke of Normandy, whence he launched his invasion of England
in 1066, and subsequent medieval English monarchs claimed possession of the dukedom,
although in 1204 King John lost it to Philip II (Dockray 125).
Harfleur
City in Normandy at the mouth of the river Seine and
the main French base for hostile operations in the Channel(Dockray 140).
Henry V besieged Harfleur 19 August-23 September (Dockray 140). Stow calls Harfleur
the key of the see of all Normandy(Stow 589).
I pray you
Derek Genova (Dauphin) delivered these lines with an ingratiating cockiness, examining his finger
nails, and anticipating his message will have been received with fear. Bruges’s response
(Sc11 Sp11) created another in a series of reversals for proud Frenchmen that worked to develop
the nationalistic agenda of the play.
very ill part
Jason Gray (Bruges) responded to the Dauphin’s question with utter sincerity, communicating
his fear and respect for the English king and in the process undermining the pride
and arrogance of the French prince.
haughty
Proud.
Normans … Danes
Soldiers from Normandy, the duchy of Brabant (in the Low Countries), Picardy, and
Denmark, northern European regions on the coasts of the English Channel and the North
Sea, which separated England from continental Europe.
In Hall, the Constable presents a similar list of
Britons,
Pickardes,
Brabanders,and
Almaines(Hall, Henry V Fol. 15v).
Master … Bows
Hall lists
the Lorde Ramburesas
Master of the Crossebowes(Hall, Henry V Fol. xv, recto). Here Charles VI could be appointing Monsieur le Cole Master of the Bows, or the two could be separate individuals who, along with Signor Devens and the others, are to be appointed to their positions by the lord high constable.
Signor Devens
Unidentified. Bullough suggests Nevers, from Holinshed.
I … thus
Historically, Louis was not at Agincourt.
Hall writes that
The Dolphyn sore desired to bee at that battaile, but he was prohibited by the king hys father(Hall, Henry V Fol. 14v). Bullough notes that although at the end of 3.5 Charles VI tells the Dauphin that
you shall remain with us(H5 3.5.66), in Henry V the
Dauphin is present at Agincourt.This is true only of the Folio version of the play, however, which substitutes the Dauphin for Bourbon in 3.7 and 4.2 and adds the Dauphin to 4.5.
Scene 12
The company felt this was a relatively nondescript scene but used it to begin to build
the anticipation of the battle to come. It features the arrival of a French Herald
who appears twice more in the play. On his final appearance he kneels to the English
king, and in performance we tried to emphasize the herald’s pride here to increase
the extent of his later reversal of fortune, who like the Dauphin and Bruges, is another
proud Frenchman brought to heel by the English hero king. Paul Hopkins (Henry V) started to mix the stately gravity he assumed on his coronation with some
of the playfulness of his performance as the young prince. Hopkins’ Henry V stood at the charismatic center of our nationalistic interpretation of the play.
good luck
Hall describes Henry’s successful siege of Harfleur as
good lucke and fortunate successe in the beginnyng of his pretended conquest(Hall, Henry V Fol. 13v).
host
Army.
appoint
Set in order, plan (Cooper).
victuals
Food, provisions.
If … money
Hall writes that
in this greate necessitee the pore folkes wer not spoyled nor any thyng without paiment was of them extorted(Hall, Henry V Fol. 14v). In Henry V Henry V commands Fluellen that
there be nothing compelled from the villages, nothing taken but paid for(H5 3.6.89–90). Arguably, Famous Victories’s Henry V is a realist, acknowledging that recourse to violent conduct (robbery) might be necessary even while attempting to engage in the first place in fair conduct towards civilians (paying for food). Henry’s willingness to condone his soldiers’ robbery, however, links his behavior as military leader to his behavior early in the play as leader of a gang of thieves.
dint
Force.
boon
Gift, favour.
vanguard
Forward position.
herald of arms
An officer having the special duty of making royal or state proclamations, and of bearing ceremonial messages between princes or sovereign powers(OED herald, n. 1.a).
Herald
In Henry V, the herald is named Montjoye, following Hall (Hall, Henry V Fol. 14v).
But, I pray
As his thought turned to his rival Dauphin, Paul Hopkins (Henry V) put his finger to his lips in a gesture reminiscent of his playful performance
of the young prince prior to his coronation. In performance, his attitude worked to
bring the audience into the joke made at the expense of the Dauphin. He then drew
his dagger and played with it casually. Hopkins went on to use this prop skilfully to enliven his exchange with the Herald. See note
at Sc12 Sp12.
played at tennis
As he spoke these words Paul Hopkins (Henry V) swung his dagger as if it was a tennis racquet. The gesture skilfully supported
the king’s argument that he would return the Dauphin’s tennis balls but in
other manner(Sc12 Sp12). At this point Paul Hopkins shifted his attitude back towards kingly authority and resumed a martial demeanor as he delivered his threat to his rival through the Herald.
inured
Toughened.
I care not
At the beginning of the scene Henry V sent a lord to his captains to assess the number
of the French soldiers. Here he decides to dispense with formality and go and visit
his captains himself. For Paul Hopkins (Henry V), this was another sign of the character’s continuing youthful impetuousness
(first witnessed at Sc1 Sp39). This was a characteristic shared by the other youthful leading men Paul Hopkins played in the SQM repertory productions.
Scene 13
The SQM actors were given free rein in this scene to make the French soldiers as ridiculous
as they pleased. They all adopted risible French accents, as the text implies they
should, and developed comic business around the soldiers’ game of dice and their love
of clothes and radishes. This scene is another great example of how the dramaturgy
of Queen’s Men plays is performative rather than textual. Our commitment to making
these French soldiers ridiculous was part of our overall strategy to respect McMillin and MacLean’s understanding of the Queen’s
Men as a tool of nationalistic propaganda. For this scene, the actors drew heavily on the clown skills they had developed over the course of the rehearsal process. We imagined that the
stereotypical representation of the proud and ridiculous French soldiers would have
worked to incite their patriotism and make them anticipate the French fall all the
more eagerly. In our 21st century Canadian production, the audience’s laughter had
a sense of irony colored by the awareness of the nationalistic agenda of the play
and, I presume, a desire to distance themselves from it. As the company performed
the play to multiple audiences the ironic quality of their reactions gradually resulted
in a more ironic tone in the performance—the actors betrayed an awareness that they
were playing stereotypes. Fortunately, we were able to record this one scene of the
play in front of a live audience, so their fascinating responses can be studied on video. The production annotations for this scene document the specific creative choices
the actors made in response to the text.
Me will … dice
I will throw my fortune at dice.
Hall records that before Agincourt French
souldiors plaied the Englishemen at dice(Hall, Henry V Fol. 17v).
It took some effort on the part of the company to decipher the exact nature of this
game of dice. We decided that the Frenchmen would name a target for their game—the
king, the earl of Willoughby—and then throw dice imagining they would win the enemy
if they hit a certain number. The key to making it work in performance was to build
business around the throwing of the dice and the characters’ extreme reactions to
the result.
Drummer
A regiment’s drummer was used not only on parade but also during battle as an important
means of communication and a form of encouragement.
In his military manual Stratioticos (1590), Leonard Digges writes that
The duetie of a good Dromme doth not so much consiste in knowledge of all variety of Marches foreine, videlicet, Almaine, French, Italian, Spanishe, &c. as to be able readily to sounde our owne, swift or slow as he shalbe directed by the Dromme Maior of the Regiment. And also to know how to sounde a Retreit, or a Stand, with such other varieties as in seruice are necessarie. […] For it falleth many times out (in great encounters) that the voice of the chief commanding officers cannot be heard, and then must all directions be giuen by the Dromme or Trompet among both footemen and horsemen(Digges 85–86).
It seemed odd that the Drummer comes on after the start of the scene even though he
is mentioned in the first line. Keeping to our policy of honoring stage directions as much as possible, we had Matthew Krist as the Drummer bang his drum on the cue given by the stage direction at the end of
the last scene:
A drum strikes(12). The drumming helped build the excited atmosphere of this scene in which the French soldiers eagerly anticipate victory. 1 Soldier’s repeated lines
Come away, Jack Drummer(Sc13 Sp1 and Sc13 Sp2) were used to call the Drummer onto the stage. He entered still banging his drum but then finished with a flourish and placed the drum on the ground while he threw the dice.
hay broth over
Have brought over.
Awee
“Ah, oui” (French) = Oh, yes.
all too little
I.e., even though it was able to contain five children, my house is too small for
all the English clothing I expect I will take as booty in this war.
Fife
A small shrill-toned instrument of the flute kind, used chiefly to accompany the drum in military music(OED fife, n. 1.a).
He throws dice
This stage direction, not present in the quarto, can be inferred from the fact that
the Drummer says he will throw the dice and then reacts to his bad luck. In the SQM
production the Drummer got his mates stamping and clapping in anticipation of his
throw and then all shared in his expression of disappointment. This action was repeated
when 1 Soldier throws
at the king himself(Sc13 Sp9) and is another example proud of Frenchmen being disappointed in the play.
earl of Northumberland
At the time of Agincourt, there was no earl of Northumberland. The first earl of Northumberland,
Henry Percy, was executed as a traitor in 1408; his son, Henry
HotspurPercy, died on the battlefield in 1403 at Shrewsbury. Only in 1416 was Hotspur’s son, Henry, restored to his grandfather’s title (Keen 353).
Is it a coincidence that the one piece of good luck enjoyed by these Frenchmen is
against an Englishman who was not actually present? 3 Soldier (Philip Borg) was the most ridiculous of all the French soldiers and acted out his image of the
snortingand
fartingEnglish horse before throwing his dice (Sc13 Sp8).
lord of Willoughby
by’r Lady
By our Lady Mary (oath).
at … himself
The French soldiers’ bad luck when throwing against the king is indicative of the
result of the battle to come. 1 Soldier (Julian DeZotti) made it clear that throwing against the
king himselfwas significant and the soldiers became more intent when watching the dice roll this time. Part of the pleasure of the play for the original audience must surely have been in the anticipation of English victory over the French and these soldiers’ arrogance and foolish anticipation of their own victory serves to whet the appetite for the reversal of fortunes they will soon face in the actual battle.
Enter a Captain
The Captain is clearly not happy to find his soldiers
so far from the camp(Sc13 Sp10), so upon his entrance, the SQM French soldiers guiltily assembled into a line, shuffling their feet and trying to avoide the Captain’s eyes.
Exeunt Drummer
To match his unusual point of entrance into the scene (13), the Drummer is given a strange exit line. He has just agreed to tell the Captain
what they were doing and then he leaves without a word. It may be that the actor in
the original production was needed to double as another character in the next scene.
To make sense of this sudden exit in our production we developed a piece of comic
business. The four soldiers had all stood to attention in a line on the entrance of
the Captain. As the Drummer said
Awee! Awee!he and one of his compatriots took a step backwards and as soon as he had finished his line, they dashed off stage as if to escape the attentions of the Captain.
new disguised chair
Newly decorated cart or chariot.
Hall records that
the French noble men deuised a chariot howe they might triumphantly conueigh kyng Henry beyng captiue to the cytie of Paris(Hall, Henry V Fol. 17v).
The fact that historians recorded these details suggests the English especially enjoyed
France’s overconfidence and subsequent humiliation. The Queen’s Men’s play uses the
movement from pride to humiliation as a repeated pattern in their play. The SQM production emphasized the French pride
in order to raise anticipation in the audience for the reversals to come. Jason Gray’s Captain was an excellent example of puffed up French pride as he goes on to delight
in the glory of the French army and patronize the English army with an insincere pity
for their plight.
Why, whoever … France
The Captain’s speech echoes the Constable’s speech to the French army in Hall:
who saw euer so florisshyng an armie within any christian region, or suche a multitude of valiant persones in one compaignie. Is not here the flower of the Frenche nacion on barded horsses with sharpe speares and dedly weapons? Are not here the bold Britons with fiery handgones and sharpe swerdes? See you not present the practiced Pickardes with strong and weightie Crossebowes? Beside these, we haue the fierce Brabanders and strong Almaines wyth long pykes and cutting slaughmesses(Hall, Henry V Fol. 15v). In Henry V, the Constable (H5 4.2.15–37) and Grandpré (H54.2.38–55) similarly praise the French forces and express contempt for the English.
In the rehearsal we determined that the key factor for the performance was the Captain’s
pride in the French army, which worked to set up the anticipated fall of the French
at Agincourt. The elaborate language of the Captain’s description was a great opportunity
for Jason Gray as the Captain to enhance the comic quality of his French accent.
peers
High-ranking hereditary nobility.
slaunching
Slicing? OED and LEME contain no entry for the word. Hall describes Germans with
cutting slaughmesses(Hall, Henry V Fol. xv, verso) or knives. Urban Dictionary suggests a Gaelic transfer from sláinte, so that
slaunchingmeans forcibly inserting something into something (or someone) else as a violent
down the hatchcheer.
Slaunchingmay be a misread of the following line’s
launching.
curtle-axes
Cutlasses.
bard
Covered with bards, protective plates of armor set with spikes(Adams).
launching
Piercing, wounding (OED launch, v. 1.a).
Hainuyers
Men from the province of Hainaut, now in modern Belgium. Thanks to Garrett Epp (University
of Alberta) for supplying this information.
glaives
Lances, halberds.
carbuncles
A kinde of carbuncle stone of a fierie rednes(Thomas).
Adams observes that carbuncles could be part of the heraldic design on a shield but
speculates that the reference here is to
the pointed spike in the center of the shield.
the other side
Jason Gray (Captain) effected a shift of tone on this line. His disdain for the
poor English scabswas directed at the audience members who in the original performance would have been English.
Why, take … him?
In Hall, the Constable declares,
kepe an Englishman one moneth from hys warme bed, fat befe and stale drynke, and let him that season tast colde and suffre hunger, you then shall se his courage bated, hys bodye waxe leane and bare, and euer desirous to returne into hys own countrey(Hall, Henry V Fol. xv, verso-Fol. xvi, recto).
radish root
Radishes were thought to provoke
thinness and increase sexual virility and fertility(Fitzpatrick 19, 26).
As he mentioned the radish, Jason Gray (Captain) raised an imaginary radish before him as if holding up a holy object. The
two remaining soldiers were transfixed by it. The Captain left the stage with the
imaginary radish still held up before him like a holy grail and the soldiers followed
him, until 2 Soldier ducked back on stage to deliver his final line and collect the
drum that had been left on stage.
Scene 14
The action of this scene follows a previous pattern (Sc12). Henry V gives orders to his nobles and then receives a visit from the proud French
Herald. As with the previous scene, the SQM company used the scene to ensure allegiance
to the English king by emphasizing the Herald’s pride and the English king’s courage
courage in the face of adversity as he returns the French nobles’ insulting request
for ransom with mockery and threats of his own. Paul Hopkins (Henry V) also cast the audience as the English army as he rallied his troops for battle.
threescore
Sixty.
fourteen
Adams’s previous emendment of the number of French footmen from Q’s sixty thousand
to forty thousand and, here, the total number of the English forces from Q’s forty
thousand to fourteen thousand straighten out the numbers to comply roughly with Henry’s
following assessment of the odds against the English as ten to one.
ten to one
Although he gives much smaller numbers, Hall states that the French army
wer estemed to be in numbre sixe times as many or more then was the whole compaigny of the Englishmen(Hall, Henry V Fol. xv, verso). In Henry V Exeter gives the odds as
five to one(H5 4.3.4), which sets the stage for Henry V’s famous St. Crispian Day speech, in which Henry addresses
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers(H5 4.3.60). As Bullough notes,
Shakespeare substitutes rhetoric for […] the orders of battlein Famous Victories.
Paul Hopkins (Henry V) thought it was funny that his character’s caclulation was inaccurate. The
odds stated are closer to 7 to 1. I asked him to play it as if it were accurate but
as the audience responded with increasing irony to our nationalistic interpretation of the
play, Hopkins allowed a hint of playfulness to enter his character’s manipulation of the statistics.
loving countrymen
Paul Hopkins (Henry V) turned these lines out to the audience casting them as his loving countrymen
and part of the army assembled to defend his right. Although our modern Canadian audience
found the patriotism amusing rather than inspiring, they were happy for Hopkins to take them along for the ride. His charisma and charm drove the play and moments
like these allowed him to build a close bond with the audience.
earl of Derby
The earldom of Derby belonged to Henry V (ODNB), and therefore historically there would have been no separate earl of Derby.
earl of Kent
Edmund Holland was the seventh earl of Kent between 1403 and his death in 1408; the
earldom lapsed until William Neville was created earl of Kent in 1461 (ODNB).
earl of Nottingham
John Mowbray (1392–1432), whose status as the earl of Nottingham was confirmed in
1413. John’s older brother Thomas had been executed in 1405 for treason (ODNB).
earl of Huntington
John Holland (1396–1447), son of the first duke of Exeter (ODNB).
duke of Bedford
John, Henry IV’s third son (Hall, Henry IV Fol. xxx). He later acted as regent after Henry V’s death, during the minority of Henry VI.
duke of Clarence
Thomas, Henry IV’s second son (Hall, Henry IV Fol. xxx).
When Henry V returned to England after the Treaty of Troyes, Thomas was placed in
charge of military operations, fought at Rouen, and died in the Battle of Baugé on
21 March 1421.
duke of Gloucester
Humphrey, Henry IV’s fourth son (Hall, Henry IV Fol. xxx), was lord protector of England while his brother, the regent (the duke of Bedford)
continued the war with France.
every archer … stake
Henry’s battle plans are similar to those recounted in Hall, which also concludes
with details of Henry’s plan to provide his archers with stakes (Hall, Henry V Fol. 16r-v).
discomfit
Defeat.
battles
Battalions (OED battle, n. 2.8.a).
ordained
Ordered.
the French … banquets
Hall recounts that
the Frenchemen made greate fires aboute their banners […] and all that night made greate chere and were very mery. The Englishmen that night sounded their trompettes and diuerse instruments Musicall with greate melody, and yet they were bothe hungery, wery, sore traueiled and muche vexed with colde deseases: Howbeit they made peace with God in confessyng their synnes, requiring hym of help and receiuing the holy sacramente, euery man encouraging and determinyng clerely rather to die then either to yelde or flie(Hall, Henry V Fol. 15). Contemporary historian Seward, however, asserts that
the king ordered them his soldiers to keep silent during the night, under pain of forfeiture of horse and armour for a gentleman, and of the right ear for a yeoman and anyone of inferior rank(Seward 75). The Chorus to act 4 of Henry V emphasizes the contrast between the two camps: while
The confident and over-lusty French / Do the low-rated English play at dice(H5 3.7.18–19), the
poor condemnèd English, / Like sacrifices, by their watchful fires / Sit patiently(H5 3.7.22–24) and contemplate
the morning’s danger(H5 3.7.25) with
gesture sad(H5 3.7.25). Amidst this bleak situation, Shakespeare’s Henry V visits his common soldiers to cheer them up by giving them
A little touch of Harry in the night(H5 4.1.47). Even though the choruses were not included in the quarto editions of Henry V, the play dramatizes the depressed state of the English camp in 4.1 and the optimistic state of the French camp in 4.2.
Enter Herald
Scott Clarkson (Herald) swaggered onto the stage establishing the Frenchman’s pride and confidence
in victory.
agree better cheap
Strike a better bargain.
Why, then
Paul Hopkins (Henry V) repeated the pattern of the exchange with the Herald (Sc12). He adopted the playful manner of the young prince from earlier in the play and
then gradually shifted to his more kingly and martial attitude as he turned his playful
reference to
tennis balls(Sc14 Sp9) into a solemn
resolution(Sc14 Sp11) to do battle.
Rather shall … body.
In Hall, Henry tells the herald that
hys dead carion should rather be their pray, then hys liuyng body should pay any raunsome(Hall, Henry V Fol xvii, verso). Earlier, Henry tells his troops that
England for my person shal neuer paye raunsome(Hall, Henry V Fol. 17r). In Henry V Henry V tells Montjoy to
tell thy master here I am. / My ransom is this frail and worthless trunk(H5 3.6.128–129). Bullough also points to 4.3 (H5 4.3.123), where Henry V makes a similar protest.
gives … coins
Paul Hopkins (Henry V) tossed a bag of coins disdainfully at the Herald, who caught them, and
left the stage, humbled.
Prime
Six o’clock in the morning, the first morning hour of prayer in the Church’s daily
liturgical schedule.
In the anonymous The Battle of Agincourt (c. 1530), Henry asks his lords,
syrs what tyme of the day(Battle of Agincourt B1v), to which they reply,
nye pryme(Battle of Agincourt B1v).
It is good tyme(Battle of Agincourt B1v), Henry then declares,
For sayntes that lye in theyr shryne / To god for vs they be prayenge / All the relygyouse of Englande in this tyme / Ora pro nobis for vs they synge(Battle of Agincourt B1v).
for … us
In Hall, Henry concludes his oration to his troops by telling them that
at thys very tyme all the realme of Englande prayeth for our lucke and prosperous success(Hall, Henry V Fol. 17r).
with one voice
Paul Hopkins (Henry V) turned once more to the audience at this point as if they were his assembled
army and called for a cry of
Saint George!(Sc14 Sp13). At our more lively performances, where beer was also served, the cast’s cries of
Saint George!were met with echoes from the audience.
cry
In Henry V, at the siege of Harfleur, Henry V tells his soldiers to
God for Harry! England and Saint George!(H5 3.1.34).
Saint George
Patron saint of England.
Scene 15
The text does not clearly indicate whether the battle was staged or not. The words
The Battlemight have been added by the print compositors for the sake of future readers. It does seem unlikely, however, that the Queen’s Men would have missed this opportunity for spectacle. Even the clown Tarlton was an avid swordsman, reaching the rank of Master of Fence (Thomson). The SQM company working with fight director Daniel Levinson developed a battle sequence that displayed our English king’s valor in fighting three French soldiers single-handedly and armed at one point only with a small shield. We also depicted the death of the Duke of York and re-introduced Derrick, who reappears soon after (having been absent from the play for several scenes). When performing in a bar setting, Paul Hopkins (Henry V) developed a piece of business where he paused in battle to take a drink of beer from what appeared to be an audience member’s glass. (It had in fact been planted by the actor.) Audiences loved this moment, enhancing what I felt was the egalitarian relationship between actors and audience in the SQM productions.
Saint Denis
Patron saint of France.
Montjoy
Name of the French herald in Hall and Shakespeare’s Henry V (but not used in Famous Victories). See note at 12. The Order of Mountjoy was a twelfth-century Spanish crusading order that
took its name from a hill near Jerusalem which, according to mediaeval descriptions of the Holy Land, was called Mountjoy because from there pilgrims gained their first sight of the city of Jerusalem(Forey 253).
Scene 16
The French Herald returns humiliated in this scene and the English king gloats at
his discomfort. Paul Hopkins (Henry V) pulled back a little, turning what could have been deep insults into a
more playful teasing of the unfortunate Frenchman. I believe his instincts were telling
him that our audience in 2006 would not tolerate such xenophobic insensitivity. He
was probably right, but I wonder if a more patriotic and nationalistic audience, in
Elizabethan times or our own, might have been willing and able to enjoy the complete
humiliation of the French king and his army.
above ten … banners.
Hall states that
there wer slain on the Frenche parte aboue ten thousande persones, wherof wer princes and nobles bearyng banners Cxxvi. and all the remnant sauying xvi C. wer knightes, esquiers and gentelmen(Hall, Henry V Fol. 20r). Stow gives roughly the same numbers:
aboue tenne thousand of all estates, whereof scarcely fifteene hundred were Souldiers or labourers, the rest were of cote armour(Stow 596). In Henry V there are
ten thousand French / That in the field lie slain. Of princes in this number / And nobles bearing banners, there lie dead / One hundred twenty-six(H5 4.8.70–73).
all the … prisoners
In Henry V the key figures of the French nobility, including the High Constable, die on the
field (H5 4.8).
none but … York
Hall lists
Edward duke of Yorke, therle of Suffolk, sir Richard Kikeley, and Dauy gamme esquire(Hall, Henry V Fol. 20r). Shakespeare also lists
the Earl of Suffolk, / Sir Richard Keightley, Davy Gam Esquire(H5 4.8.94) along with the duke of York.
not above … soldiers
Hall remarks,
not aboue xxv. if you will geue credite to suche as write miracles: but other writers whom I soner beleue affirme that there was slayne aboue v. or vi. C, persons(Hall, Henry V Fol. 20r). Stow states that
of all estates on the English partie, were not found dead aboue vi. C in the field(Stow 596). Shakespeare preferred miracles:
But five-and-twenty(H5 4.8.96) common soldiers die in the battle in Henry V.
the honorable … us
In Hall, Henry declares that the
victorye hathe not been obteined by vs nor our power, but onely bi the sufferaunce of GOD(Hall, Henry V Fol.19r).
great disgrace … England
In neither Scene 12 nor Scene 14 does the Herald kneel when he approaches Henry, his standing upright being an assertion
of the equality of the French sovereign whom he represents with the English sovereign
he confronts. His kneeling here signifies the great disgrace of the French defeat,
an act of submission echoed in the play’s final scene when the duke of Burgundy and
the dauphin kiss Henry’s sword.
you
I.e., the French.
will make … won
Referring to the overconfident French’s demands for ransom before the battle.
what castle … camp?
Henry asks the same question in Hall,
desiryng you the French heralds too know the name of thee castle nere adioning. When they had answered that it was called Agyncourt, he said that this conflict should be called the battaill of Agyncourt(Hall, Henry V Fol. 19r).
Battle of Agincourt
Agincourt is between Harfleur and Calais, whither Henry V’s depleted army was marching
after successfully besieging Harfleur (Dockray 144–145). The Battle of Agincourt was fought 25 October 1415, St. Crispin’s Day (Dockray 148).
parley
Speak, negotiate.
doubt
Fear.
courtesy
Noble or chivalric conduct.
Scene 17
I love the way the London Watch reappear on the battlefield at this point. They were
likely not featured earlier in France because the actors were busy doubling as comic
Frenchmen. We gave Derrick a brief appearance in the battle but it was not really
necessary. The audience were happy to pick up with these characters at this point
and enjoyed the more homely spin they put on the great historical battle. The clowns
begin by reporting on the king’s actions in the same way they did at the start (Sc2) and in a way that is also reminiscent of Derrick and John’s comic re-performance
of the boxing of the Justice’s ear (Sc5). One of the clown figure’s key functions in the play was to effect such shifts in
perspective. In this case, the roving English soldier arrives to tie the clowns into
the on-going action of the battle, and in contrast to the martial king, their immediate
instinct is to find a way to avoid battle, to which purpose they practice their
broken French(Sc17 Sp7). It is a simple gag but one which works to further valorize the play’s hero-king.
brave
Fine (Cotgrave).
roaming
Englishmen
Jason Gray (John) and Peter Higginson (Robin) delivered the line with extreme pride. The idea was prompted by the fact
that the text indicates they speak the line in unison and proved very funny in performance.
The pride, like so much of the clowning in the play, was at once ridiculous and endearing.
Our modern audience laughed at the overt patriotism with a sense of irony but the
clowns remained fully committed to their Englishness, that is, of course, until the
battle turned and they decided to pretend to be Frenchmen. Their confident self-identification
at ths point made the reversal of attitude all the funnier.
king’s tents … afire
Hall relates that 600 French horsemen,
hearyng that the Englyshe tentes and pauilions were farre from the army wythout any great nombre of kepers or persons mete and conuenient, for defence […] entred into the kynges campe beyng voide of men and fortified with varlettes and lackeys, and ther spoyled hales, robbed tentes, brake vp chestes and caried awaie casketes and slewe suche seruantes as they could find,in response to which Henry commands
that euery man vpon paine of death should incontinently sley his prisoner(Hall, Henry V Fol. 18r-v). In Henry V the French also
Kill the poys and the luggage(H5 4.7.1), in retaliation for which, according to Gower,
the King most worthily hath caused every soldier to cut his prisoner’s throat(H5 4.7.7). At the conclusion of the previous scene, however, Henry commands that
every soldier kill his prisoners(H5 4.6.37) merely upon hearing that
the French have reinforced their scattered men(H5 4.6.36).
shift
Change (thieves’ cant), manage, make do, or improvise in light of the circumstances.
See John Baret, An Alveary or Triple Dictionary, in English, Latin, and French (Baret):
to seeke a Shifte to cloke periurie,
To seeke shiftes to scape,
I will make shift for that well inough, or I will easily auoyde it,
a Pollicy or witty shift in warres.In light of John and Derrick’s subsequent activities, John Florio’s definition of carpire may be relevant:
to snatch, to filch, to prowle, to pilfer, to shift for, to get by hooke or crooke, to clime or grapple for(Florio).
Commodevales, Monsieur
Adams suggests comment-allez-vous, which means
how are you?
Ultimately deciphering the word is not important. For the joke to work it just needs
to sound like really bad French. Jason Gray (John) delivered the line with no recognizable French inflection to emphasize the
point. To enhance the comedy, Peter Higginson (Robin) played the following line as if Robin was deeply impressed with John Cobbler’s
command of the French language.
Scene 18
This amusing little scene mirrors the pattern of the king’s interactions with the
Herald and the Dauphin as Derrick brings about his own reversal of fortunes for an
initially proud Frenchman. It is uncharacteristically full of explicit stage directions
that clearly define the comic business intended for the scene. The action is all classic
clown material, full of tricks, double-takes, and sudden emotional reversals. This
scene is an indicator of the kind of clowning work expected from the Queen’s Men company
and gives much justification for the more interpretive and creative work the SQM company
did with sections of the plays in which the directions were less explicit.
Enter Derrick
This relatively expansive stage direction was an open invitation for the company clown to create comic business. Our Frenchman stalked the roaming Derrick around the stage,
trying to capture the oblivious English clown three times before finding success.
Mounser
Monsieur, i.e., sir, mister.
vigliacco
A raskal, a villain, a base, vile, abiect, skuruie fellow, a scoundrel(Florio).
Here the Frenchman
For once the directions for stage comedy are quite explicit and the SQM company merely
had to follow the instructions. Alon Nashman as Derrick exaggerated both his terror at being caught and then his delight in his
triumphant trick. Sudden emotional reversals like this moment are a prominent characteristic
of the clowning style adopted by the SQM company.
comparteve
Compatez-vous, i.e. have compassion! (Bullough).
lammst
Beat, thrashed.
ell
A measure of length varying in different countries(OED ell, n.1 1.a).
Adams glosses: ““To measure with a short ell” was a proverbial phrase meaning to deal
unfairly. Derrick refers to the Frenchman’s sword as a short ell measuring rod”. Corbin
and Sedge suggest that Derrick is humorously mocking the size of the Frenchman’s sword,
with obvious sexual innuendo.
In the SQM production the
short ellwas made to refer to Derrick’s own member. At Sc18, he was initially caught by the Frenchman when he turned and found the Frenchman’s sword between his legs. At this point he pulled at his crotch, remembering what the Frenchman of had done to him.
Here while
Another generous stage direction that clearly calls for a classic double-take following
the Frenchman’s exit. The detail in the stage directions in this scene is further
evidence that the Queen’s Men were skilled company of clowns and supports the emphasis put on clowning in the SQM process.
Mass
By the mass(oath).
Once his opponent disappeared, Alon Nashman (Derrick) immediately dropped the performance of martial triumphalism and reverted
to the clown’s conventional cowardice. The emotions of clowns are sincere and deep,
but also quick and transitive. Here Nashman shifted from a performance of vengefulness to fear.
spilt
Destroyed.
Scene 19
The scene begins with abrupt negotiations between Henry V and the French King but
take an amusing turn with the discovery that our hero-king is in love. The featured
video was recorded quite early on in the process and gives only hints of the scene
that was performed as part of the Queen’s Men conference. In this performance, Paul Hopkins (Henry V) is gentle and solicitous but feeding off audience response, he learned
to be more brash and direct, revelling in his status as the
mighty king of England(Sc19 Sp32). Julian DeZotti’s Katherine also grew over the course of the performances as following the inclination of the audience he built on the textual evidence that Katherine, for all her stated diplomatic intents, found the English king utterly irresistible. Our modern audience laughed ironically at the representation of the English king’s sexual bravura but one can imagine it might have been enjoyed in different kind by Elizabethan audiences. Similarly, in the SQM production Katherine became a stereotypically sexy French maiden, an interpretation that undermined the fact that she is engaged in political negotiation on behalf of her father. A more flattering interpretation of the character is clearly possible, but any actor playing the role would still have to deal with her aside:
I may think myself the happiest in the world, that is beloved of the mighty king of England(Sc19 Sp32). The joke in the SQM production was that while she was trying to represent her father’s interests she struggled to suppress the desire she was feeling for the English king. This struggle led to the climactic and highly comic moment where she articulated this desire to the audience.
deny
Conclusively prove to be false.
I am … land.
Bullough asserts that
The ‘siegeʼ is probably that of Rouen (1418–1419),which was part of Henry V’s second campaign in France. Famous Victories elides Henry’s second campaign and moves directly from his victory at Agincourt to dramatize the negotiating process culminating in the Treaty of Troyes. Historically, Henry V returned to England soon after Agincourt, on 15 November 1415 (Dockray 159). He invaded France again 1 August 1417 (Dockray 170) and began the siege of Rouen 30 July 1418 (Dockray 175). Rouen surrendered 19 January 1419 (Dockray 178). The ensuing negotiations led to the ratification of the Treaty of Troyes on 21 May 1420, whose terms were that Henry be regent of France during Charles VI’s lifetime, that Katherine be given to Henry in marriage, and that their heirs be recognized as the legitimate French monarchs (Dockray 188–189). Henry and Katherine’s son, Henry VI, was crowned king of France in Paris on 16 December 1431 (Dockray 208).
My secretary
Paul Hopkins (Henry V) opened this line up to the audience, which had the effect of making his
demands and the King of France’s submission to those demands a public spectacle. In
our nationalistic interpretation of the play, the audience was invited to relish the English victory and the sight of the oppressed
French nobility.
No more … right
In the later performances as Paul Hopkins grew into the role of Henry V, he asserted his right with much more force than he
does in the recording of this early performance. Hopkins Henry V became
very peremptory,as Charles VI puts it (Sc19 Sp11). The dominating performance of the English king better served the SQM interpretation of the play, although our modern audience found the nationalistic spirit of the performance funny rather than inspiring.
it skills … saddle
It does not matter that he is displaced from or
lacking in power(OED saddle, n.1 P3.a). Proverbial (Tilley S18).
peremptory
Commanding, unyielding, admitting of no debate.
hot
Fierce, vehement, hasty (Thomas).
resolution
Decision, answer, formal declaration (OED resolution, n.1 15.a).
we will … tomorrow
Bullough notes that in Henry V,
Shakespeare omits the details of the terms, but includes the deferment(Bullough). Charles VI is much less recalcitrant in Henry V than in Famous Victories, pleading as his reason for deferment only that
I have but with a cursitory eye / O’er-glanced the articles(H5 5.2.78–79) and promising to
Pass our accept and peremptory answer(H5 5.2.82) once he has had the opportunity to
re-survey them(H5 5.2.81). Charles’s seemingly negligent approach to the negotiations in Henry V may be a bargaining ploy or may reflect the weakness of the historical Charles VI, whose intermittent insanity caused him to be dominated by other powerful figures at court, specifically the duke of Burgundy and Queen Isabella, who in Henry V takes over from Charles in the negotiations at this point. In contrast, in Famous Victories Charles’s daughter Katherine continues the negotiations.
supply
Assault.
with his daughter
Famous Victories here recalls the chronicles, which suggest that the French attempted to use Henry’s
infatuation with Katherine as a political tool. Hall notes that during the negotiations
the French part brought with them the lady Katherin, only to thentent that the king of England seying and beholdyng so faire a lady and so minion a damosel, should so be inflamed and rapte in loue, that he to obtayne so beautifull an espouse, shoulde the soner agre to a gentle peace, and louing composicion(Hall, Henry V Fol. 34r).
face
Impudence.
will have her
Henry V’s open commitment to turn his desire into possession is a product of the Queen’s
Men’s patriarchal society. Initially, as seen in the available video, Paul Hopkins (Henry V) played down these lines, feeling that they might shift the modern audience’s
sympathies away from his character. The key to our interpretation was that the English
king should be a hero on the audience’s eyes. I encouraged him to commit to them wholeheartedly.
Embracing such patriarchal sentiments was part of what gave the SQM production its
masculine quality. The audiences at the later performances responded ironically to such sexist attitudes
and this in turn encouraged a hint of irony to creep into the actors’ performances.
Hopkins was being a bad boy, but with a twinkle in his eye that allowed the modern audience
to come along with him for the ride.
Lady Katherine
Daughter of Charles VI and Queen Isabella.
In Henry V Catherine is onstage during the preceding negotiations and remains onstage with Henry
V at Henry’s request after the other characters have exited (H5 5.2.95). The Famous Victories Katherine is not the angry victim that Shakespeare portrays.
We performed Famous Victories with only 13 actors rather than the ideal 14 and therefore did not have any actors
to spare to provide ladies-in-waiting for Katherine. Julian DeZotti (Katherine) entered modestly with his eyes cast down towards his hands, not daring
to look at the English king until Katherine’s first line. In the later performances
it was clear from the outset the French princess was trying to suppress her desire
for the English king. This promoted the idea that the English king’s sexual charisma
was as powerful as his military valor and played still further into the SQM’s nationalistic
interpretation of the play. DeZotti gave us a flirty French princess who could not resist the power of the English hero
king. This was very much a man’s interpretation of the role and formed part of the
locker room atmosphere of this play. Our twenty-first century audience found this amusing although their laughter was tinged
with irony, as ultimately were the performances of the actors.
Katherine
For the rest of the play, Katherine’s speech prefixes are
Kateor
Kat,both of which I am treating as abbreviations rather than nicknames (much as I treat
Henas an abbreviation of, not a nickname for, Henry) and have therefore silently expanded.
An … majesty
Bullough notes that
Shakespeare’s Katharine cannot speak English(Bullough). More precisely, in Henry V Catherine speaks a broken English that is played upon extensively for (bawdy) comic effect during which Catherine is given English lessons (H5 3.4 and 5.2). Famous Victories confines the comedy of broken language to scenes involving the comic characters, such as Scene 13 and Scene 18. Consequently, linguistic barriers do not prevent Famous Victories’s Katherine from engaging erotically and politically with Henry V on equal footing. Certainly the Queen’s Men’s patron Elizabeth I might appreciate the political acuteness in a young future queen of England.
my father … require
By suggesting that Henry’s demands are debatable, Katherine implies that Henry and
her father are still on equal negotiating terms despite the French defeat.
debate
To contende with wordes, to chide, to wrangle, to brawle(Thomas). Also relevant is the second sense OED gives for the verb: abate, reduce (OED debate, v.2 a).
tell me … terms
Henry’s ineffectual demand that Katherine speak in
plain termssuggests that he knows that he is linguistically outmatched by Katherine, as the subsequent dialogue between the two arguably indicates. In Henry V Henry V declares to Catherine that he is a
plain king(H5 5.2.120–121) and
speaks to thee plain soldier(H5 5.2.140), which, in contrast to Henry’s demand that Katherine speak plainly in Famous Victories, may be a clever rhetorical strategy to disguise the peremptoriness of his demands and Catherine’s relative powerlessness in the wooing situation. Or perhaps Catherine’s strategy of finding various ways of saying
Nois annoying the king.
I would … demands
In her verbal repartee with Henry, Katherine here demonstrates her skill as a negotiator
and her awareness of her status as erotic bargaining tool. In contrast, in Henry V, Catherine is not sent to Henry V to continue her father’s negotiations and makes
no political demands of Henry (H5 5.2).
king of England
The king’s repeated reference to himself in the third person provided an opportunity
for Paul Hopkins (Henry V) to make his wooing of the French princess a matter for national pride.
In the later performances, he hit these lines with more conviction, but also with
a sense that he as an actor was aware such nationalism would be funny today. These
moments would likely also have been funny in the original performance but without
the hint of irony Hopkins produced.
How should … father?
In Henry V Catherine asks,
Is it possible dat I sould love de ennemi of France?(H5 5.2.155), later declaring that she will accept Henry’s proposal
Dat is as it shall please de roi mon père(H5 5.2.216), thus acquiescing to her role as a spoil of war. In contrast, here and in the subsequent dialogue, Famous Victories’s Katherine uses her father’s consent much more deliberately for political ends (to pressure Henry to debate his demands) while explicitly stating her own desire to accept Henry’s proposal (Sc19 Sp32).
But seeing … will
In Henry V Catherine similarly demurs:
Dat is as it shall please de roi mon père(H5 5.2.216), she tells Henry.
Whereas
While (OED whereas, conj. 3).
Julian DeZotti (Katherine) was able to use this line to portray Katherine’s attempt to serve her
father’s interest battling with her desire for the English king. The first clause
articulated her resistance but Julian DeZotti made her growing desire clear in the second clause.
it is
Although an aside is not indicated in the text here, unlike for Katherine’s next line
(Sc19 Sp32), the King’s use of the impersonal pronoun suggested to me that the line should be
delivered directly to the audience. Paul Hopkins (Henry V) relished this moment in the later performances, sharing his desire for
the French princess directly with the men in the audience. The play as a whole generated
a playful, locker room camaraderie, tinged with a sense of self-aware irony. The complicity he established here helped
set up Katherine’s confession of her desire.
I may … England.
Although in her dialogue with Henry she subordinates it to her political purposes,
Katherine here actively voices her own desire, in contrast to Henry V’s Catherine, who shows no desire for Henry. See her later expression of her willingness
to accept Henry’s proposal (Sc21 Sp21).
The SQM interpretation was perfectly in keeping with the textual editor’s. The princess’s
aside reveals her deeper motivation in the scene. Julian DeZotti (Katherine) addressed the audience in a shy, girlish, confessional tone, as if revealing
her feelings to a close friend. The audience found her overwhelming passion for the
English king funny in an ironic way and Julian DeZotti learned to play into the irony of their laughter. It is almost impossible for an
actor, male or female, to commit sincerely to such a sentiment today. The original
actors and audience might have found a different kind of truth in the idea that French
princesses might find English kings sexually irresistible.
at host
Figurative to be on familiar terms or at home with(OED host, n.3 b).
Henry has just conquered, or made himself at home in, France. His choice of this phrase,
then, is (perhaps unwittingly) ironic and might be construed as a veiled threat.
persuaded … it
Henry is possibly alluding here to the concession he makes to Charles VI in Scene 21 that he be declared Heir and Regent of France, not King, while Charles VI is still
alive. That is, Henry has conceded to the princess’s powerful demands.
rouse
Shake, stir (OED rouse, n.1 2).
Scene 20
We have seen the English king debate his spoils of victory and here the English clowns
have their turn. Where the king quarrels over kingdoms and princesses, the clowns
carry off shoes and apparel from the field of battle. These characters’ working class
perspective on the war once again enriches the play’s depiction of the historical
narrative. This was the most confusing of their scenes. To my mind, it is designed
as a kind of variety show, a double act in which the clowns presented a series of
gags. Alon Nashman (Derrick), however, was determined to give the scene more narrative cohesion. He
came up with the idea that John Cobbler’s
pack full of apparel(20) was more valuable than his
girdle full of shoes(20). Working with Jason Gray (John Cobbler), Alon Nashman developed physical business in which he took John’s pack and left him to collect the shoes. The idea had textual justification since John’s final line indicates that at the end of the scene he is left with the
shoes and boots(Sc20 Sp28) Their creative work was ingenious but was hard for the audience to follow. It was also driven by the twenty-first century concept that drama should depict action proceeding ina causal manner, in which one character is doing something to another. The scene in its original performance context could easily have worked simply as a series of jokes, a comic double act.
girdle
Belt.
full of shoes
Alon Nashman (Derrick) entered trying to stuff one more shoe into his belt which he had rigged
so that the other shoes began to fall out one by one. The little comic lazzo ended with all the shoes lying on the stage prior to John’s entrance.
scaped
Escaped.
I was within
Since John Cobbler is the dupe rather than the trickster clown, Jason Gray played this line with sincerity, genuinely believing that being half a mile from
a person who was killed was a high-risk situation.
five times slain!
As the less bright of the two clowns, Jason Gray initially showed his amazement that his friend had been killed five times, but then
it slowly dawned on him that this multiplicity might not be possible. This little
section is a classic trickster and dupe clown dialogue.
I will tell
Alon Nashman acted out the stories as he told them, involving Jason Gray (Cobbler) in a series of comic lazzi that enlivened the story and brought out the humor. In ironic contrast to the king’s
heroics on the battelfield, Derrick’s exploits all depict ways to avoid the battle
and keep himself safe.
stand aside
Not to enter active battle.
Frenchmen
Alon Nashman (Derrick) took a look in John’s pack at this point and was impressed by the quality
and value of the apparel he found there. This action began the comic business the
company clowns created in which Derrick takes John’s pack and leaves him with the
shoes.
reparel
Apparel.
John’s malapropism is an instance of the linguistic play that was a standard part
of the comic routines of the Queen’s Men, a troupe with many experienced clowns.
shoes
Having assessed the greater value of the apparel in John’s pack, Alon Nashman (Derrick) used this word to try and make his collection of Frenchman’s shoes seem
attractive to his friend.
take off … shoes
Derrick, not John Cobbler, thinks of this money-making scheme, perhaps a basis for
double-takes between the two.
This line is strange because Derrick is stating the blatantly obvious. There is nothing
clever or surprising about his means of obtaining the shoes. Alon Nashman played it as if he was revealing a mysterious secret to John who was momentarily
bemused but not long enough for Derrick to get his hands on the pack, as was his intention.
Zounds, if I
As with his previous story, Alon Nashman (Derrick) acted out his plan to join up with the Duke of York’s funeral party, involving
Jason Gray (Cobbler) in his comic business. While his dupe Cobbler is lost in eating imaginary
cake and drinking imaginary ale, Alon Nashman (Derrick) slid over and picked up his friend’s pack of apparel.
Sirrah
Boy (familiar form of address).
clerk
Cleric, priest.
sexton
An officer of a parish church whose responsibilities have traditionally included bell-ringing and grave-digging(OED sexton, n. 1.a).
stint
“A period of time spent on a particular job; a turn (at doing something)” (OED stint, n.1 7.a);
a course, a perfect sentence falling in ful compasse and measure: that terme of time wherein any thing is finished, an ende(Florio).
we be soldiers
Jason Gray’s John Cobbler was completely bemused by Derrick’s later plan of action but Alon Nashman (Derrick) sang this final line and carried John away with his enthusiasm. Only after
Derrick had exited did John notice that his pack was gone and he was left to collect
the shoes scattered about the stage.
my shoes … boots
John claims to have stolen some
reparelfor his wife, while Derrick claims to have stolen shoes from dead soldiers. Here, however, John claims to be carrying boots and shoes, so either his
reparelincluded these items or he and Derrick swapped stolen goods at some point in the scene. Derrick may want John to carry the shoes and boots in case they are caught: John Cobbler would immediately seem to be the guilty party (and hanged). The clothing in Derrick’s pack may seem less an offence punishable by death, if it is even recognized as stolen.
As noted above, our master clown Alon Nashman picked up on this discrepancy and used it to tie the series of jokes in the scene
into a short narrative in which his clever clown Derrick dupes the more simple-minded
John Cobbler.
Scene 21
The final scene stages once more the French submission and English victory. It features
the central spectacle of the French noblemen, including the Dauphin, swearing oaths
of loyalty to the English king, and Katherine accepting Henry V’s proposal. The text
does not provide evidence of much resistance from the French party but in performance
the SQM company tried to heighten the significance of the nobles’ submission, and
make Katherine’s acceptance provide a joyful and comic climax to the story.
duke of Burgundy
Philip, son of John the Fearless and duke of Burgundy after John’s assassination on
10 September 1419.
Heir … France
In Hall, Henry is
named and proclaimed heire and Regent of Fraunce(Hall, Henry V Fol. 37r); the articles of the Treaty of Troyes stipulate that Clarles VI call Henry
Nostre tres chier filz Henry Roy Dengleterre heretere de France, and in Latin in this maner.
Preclarissimus filius noster Henricus Rex Anglia et haeres Francia(Hall, Henry V Fol. 60v). See also Stow 610. In Henry V, Henry is pronounced
Notre très cher fils Henri, Roi d’Angleterre, Héritier de France(H5 5.2.294–295),
Our very dear son Henry, King of England and Heir of France.
take your … sword
By compelling the duke of Burgundy and the Dauphin to swear their oaths upon his sword,
an obvious phallic symbol, Henry makes their expressions of subordination acts of
humiliation.
In the SQM production we tried to present these acts of humiliation as spectacles
designed for the enjoyment of the audience. As the Dauphin kissed Henry’s sword, Paul Hopkins (Henry V) smirked and glanced out to the audience inviting them to share in his enjoyment
of the Dauphin’s submission to his power.
thereunto … oath
In September 1435 at Arras Philip renounced his oath of fealty to Henry V and acknowledged
Charles VII as his king (Keen 389–390).
Come, Prince … too
Historically, the Dauphin Charles was not at the Treaty of Troyes, rejected it (Dockray 198), continued to resist English forces from the south of France (Dockray 240), and, with the help of Joan of Arc’s army, was crowned Charles VII on 17 July, 1429
(Keen 387).
Staging the Dauphin’s humiliation was obviously appealing to the Queen’s Men. Once
again the fact that he has no lines is curious. At this point we had the Dauphin begin
as if to object only to be stopped by his father, who gestured to indicate he should
submit to the English king’s command.
king of England
In the final performances, Paul Hopkins (Henry V) delivered this line with the conviction that he was speaking to a room
full of men and women who were all convinced that the king of England was utterly
desirable and made the best possible partner in marriage. Our modern audience found
this very amusing. Despite my insistence on the sincerity of the king’s self-confidence,
these moments often veered to irony in performance.
How should … enemy?
Julian DeZotti (Katherine) played this final note of resistance from the princess as entirely coy.
It was clear that she had already fallen for the mighty English king.
What, wench
The King’s inappropriate use of
wenchto refer to the princess is a sign of his brash self-confidence and brings the king down to the level of a common soldier, a man of the people. Responding to moments like this in the text resulted in the egalitarian feel of this play in performance.
king of England
By the time of the final performances of this play, the actors seemed to deliver these
words in quotation marks, as if sharing a familiar ironic joke with the audience.
I had … willing
Katherine’s expression of desire here is consistent with her earlier aside (Sc19 Sp32) and suggests Famous Victories’s attempt to add a romantic element to the primarily political marriage between Henry
and Katherine. Arguably, the absence of any explicit expression of desire on Catherine’s
part in Henry V indicates Shakespeare’s refusal to romanticize the relationship.
first … month
2 June 1420 (Dockray 188).
Hall (Hall, Henry V Fol. 37r) and Stow (Stow 609) say 3 June. Bullough notes that
Shakespeare delays the oaths of fealty till then,in keeping with Hall (Hall, Henry V Fol. 37).
This struck the company as a very mundane line on which to end such an epic play.
The trumpets that follow fortunately served to give the performance a note on which
to end the action, as did the song and jig at the end of the performance.
Collations
Ned and Tom
Prince Henry
Zounds
Sir John Oldcastle
Zounds
Ay
Ay
if the
They place their booty at his
feet.
They hide the
booty.
1 Receiver
But look, here
Aside to 2
Receiver
2 Receiver
Replying aside
Aside to 2
Receiver
Zounds
To Prince Henry
than
To Jockey
To the Receivers
we robbed in
were of them
1 Receiver and 2 Receiver
The Receivers
kneel.
Prince Henry
Q1 attributes the following three lines to Ned.
zounds
Exeunt Receivers.
Ned, Tom, and Jockey
Ned, Tom, and Jockey
all together
An
all
Exeunt Prince Henry, Ned, Tom, and
Jockey.
John
Robin
John
Q1 omits speech prefix.
Assign the lines to Lawrence.
if I go
an
meet
Ay
John and Lawrence lie down and
sleep.
Whoa! whoa there! whoa there!
Who, who there, who there?
John and Lawrence
Whoa there! whoa there! whoa there!
Who there, who there, who there?
John
John seizes
Derrick.
Why
Zounds
Zounds
To John
An
Derrick points to
Robin
bade
Derrick draws his
sword.
Well, you
bade
John
Derrick sheathes his
sword.
an
Aside
To Lawrence and
Robin
Cutbert Cutter
Gadshill
ye
Cutbert draws his
sword.
an
John, Robin, and Lawrence seize
Cutbert.
Zounds
Ay
John
John
Robert
Robin
Robin is a diminutive form of Robert (cf.
The Lancashire Witches sig. D2r). John calls
the boy Robert in line 55; this edition has adopted this later naming for the
boy to avoid confusion with Robin Pewterer.
John
Robert
mayor
at the last
John
John
John
To Derrick
Ay
Exeunt.
An’t
Henry IV
haled
halied
halled
haled
Bullough’s gloss
Henry IV
than
than
Henry IV
them
with Sheriff
ay
To Exeter and
Oxford
Exeter
Oxford
Exeunt
with several Officers
Lord Chief Justice
Ay
Zounds
an
an
an
twentieth
fourteenth
Henry
To Cutbert Cutter
To Lord Chief
Justice
Ay
An
Derrick
An’t
what mean you
with my man?
An’t
the law must pass on him according to justice;
then he must be executed.
An’t
man?
An’t
answered!
Ned draws his
sword.
Exeunt Ned and Tom
an
You? Who
You, who
You! who
You! who
Ay
Exit
’ssizes
Exeunt Lord Chief Justice, Clerk of
the Office, John Cobbler, Derrick, and Cutbert Cutter with
Jailor
Zounds
John sits in the lord chief
justice’s chair
John Cobler takes his place in the Judge’s
seat.
John Cobbler takes the Judge’s seat.
an
Derrick gives John a box on the
ear
Zounds
Zounds
workaday
Worenday
glosses as
workaday, ordinary.
do, then
brewis
brewes
glosses as “browis, meat broth.”
Though we be so poor
But Dericke, though we be so poore, Yet
willfire, Withstale, Whichmire.
An’t
Jockey
Jockey
Jockey
a bout
Jockey
They knock at a
gate.
Enter Porter
Ned draws his
sword.
Exit Porter.
write
Henry IV
than
Enter
An
an
Ay
Oxford
An
An
The Prince crosses the stage to Henry IV with a dagger in his hand.
on in
Ay
Aside
To Henry IV
to say
word?
Enter Prince Henry
Prince Henry
kneels.
Prince Henry
rises.
Shouts to offstage
Hearest a
Hearesta
hearest thou [Adams’s gloss]
an
if
an
Ay
Music plays
An
Exit Oxford
an
than
Prince Henry gives Henry IV the
crown and kneels before him.
needs
but
than
than
Exeter, Oxford, and Prince Henry
draw the curtains.
Music plays.
Justice
stustice
Iustice
Justice
iustice
an
To Cutbert Cutter
Zounds
than
Canterbury
an
An
my lord ambassador is come out of
France.
My Lord Embassador is come out of France.
An
Bruges
into
Bruges
Bruges
Bruges
Sixth
Bruges
An
He delivereth a tun of tennis balls.
An
Bruges
An
Bruges
than
pleasant
ay
Bruges
manual
manual
of Bruges
To Exeter
if
Enter
Lord Chief Justice
Lord Chief Justice
Lord Chief Justice
Lord Chief Justice
Ay
Lord Chief Justice
An
Exeunt omnes.
there’s
to
an
Enter
with a pot lid for a
shield
Zounds
To Wife
Here he shakes her
An
an
do.
Enter
Zounds
Ay
dost know’s
doest knowes
doest, knowest,
know us [gloss]
doest know us
Ay
They embrace
tearfully
Zounds
To Wife
To John
Zounds
Charles VI of
France
Charles VI
An
Ay
Bruges
Bruges
Bruges
Bruges
An
Bruges
Enter
An
Bows
and all the
than
an
Enter
Exit a Lord
An
laws
Enter
An
than
than
an
A drum strikes
do thou
He throws dice
He throws dice
He throws dice
Enter
our
than
slaunching
Barbarians
launching
Hainuyers
carbuncles
radish
Captain
2 Soldier
Enter
An
threescore thousand
fourteen
fortie
vanguard
An
Henry V
making of bonfires
Enter
send
than
than
resolution
Henry V gives the Herald
coins
Drummer
Exeunt omnes
The Battle
The Battell
Enter
An
Enter
An
An
An
An
Exit Herald
Ay
Enter
Exit Soldier
Drum and trumpet sound
Drum and Trumpet sounds
Exit John and
Robin
Enter
vigliacco
Frenchman
Frenchman
Ay, marry
Ay, but
Frenchman
Exit Derrick
Enter
Secretary,
Charles VI
To Secretary
Charles VI
Charles VI
Charles VI
Charles VI
Henry V
Charles VI
Ay
Charles VI
Ay
Charles VI
Q1, 2 place this stage direction immediately after Charles’
we will meet you again tomorrow.
Ay, but I love herwill have her.
I but Iher, | Nay Ihaue her.
Ay
Enter
fair Lady Katherine
faire Ladie, Katheren
Katherine
An
tongue can
you
than
Exit Katherine of France and her
Ladies
Zounds
Enter
Enter
Ay
is
Ay
Ay
Ay
zounds
an
Ay
Ay
Ay
Zounds
Exeunt Derrick and
John
Enter
Katherine,
Secretary,
Charles VI
Ay
than
Charles VI
Charles VI
Charles VI
Charles VI
liege man
Charles VI
if
Charles VI
Aside
Kate
Charles VI
Characters
Prince Henry, Henry IV’s son and later Henry V
Ned, Prince Henry’s companion
Tom, Prince Henry’s companion
Jockey (Sir John Oldcastle), Prince Henry’s companion
Two Receivers, Henry IV’s tax and rent collectors
John Cobbler, a cobbler and member of the parish watch
Robin Pewterer, a pewterer and member of the parish watch
Lawrence Costermonger, a fruit-seller and member of the parish watch
Derrick, a carrier and later John Cobbler’s apprentice
Cutbert Cutter, a thief
Vintner’s Boy
Earl of Oxford, one of Henry IV’s lords
Henry IV, king of England
Mayor of London
Earl of Exeter, one of Henry IV’s lords
Lord Chief Justice of England
Clerk of the Office
Jailor
Porter
Archbishop of Canterbury
Duke of York, Henry V’s uncle
Archbishop of Bruges, the French ambassador
English Captain
John Cobbler’s Wife
Charles VI, king of France
Lord High Constable of France
Prince Dauphin, Charles VI’s son
Messenger
French Herald
French Soldiers
French Drummer
English Soldier
English Secretary
Lady Katherine, Charles VI’s daughter
Duke of Burgundy, Charles VI’s most powerful noble
Other English Lords
Sheriff of London
French Captain
Attendants
Lady Katherineʼs Ladies
French Secretary
Prosopography
Alon Nashman
Alon Nashman was an actor and musical director with Shakespeare and the Queenʼs Men
Project. He played
Keeperand
Milesin Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (2006) and
Derrickin Famous Victories (2006).
Andrew Griffin
Andrew Griffin is an associate professor in the department of English and an affiliate
professor in the department of Theater and Dance at the University of California,
Santa Barbara. He is general editor (text) of Queen’s Men Editions. He studies early
modern drama and early modern historiography while serving as the lead editor at the
EMC Imprint. He has co-edited with Helen Ostovich and Holger Schott Syme Locating the Queen’s Men (2009) and has co-edited The Making of a Broadside Ballad (2016) with Patricia Fumerton and Carl Stahmer. His monograph, Untimely Deaths in Renaissance Drama: Biography, History, Catastrophe, was published with the University of Toronto Press in 2019. He is editor of the
anonymous The Chronicle History of King Leir (Queen’s Men Editions, 2011). He can be contacted at griffin@english.ucsb.edu.
Anonymous
Daniel Levinson
Daniel Levinson was a fight director with Shakespeare and the Queenʼs Men Project.
He worked on Famous Victories (2006).
David Kynaston
David Kynaston was an actor with Shakespeare and the Queenʼs Men Project. He played
Jaques Vandermast,
Burden,and
Serlsbyin Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (2006) and
Jockey,
Lord Chief Justice,
Constable,
Burgundyin Famous Victories (2006).
Derek Genova
Derek Genova was an actor with Shakespeare and the Queenʼs Men Project. He played
Eleanor,
1 Scholar,
Hostess,and
Postin Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (2006) and
Tom,
Boy,
Dauphin,
Second French Soldierin Famous Victories (2006).
Don Allison
Don Allison was an actor with Shakespeare and the Queenʼs Men Project. He played
King Henryand
Voice of the Brazen Headin Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (2006) and
King Henryand
Charles VIin Famous Victories (2006).
Helen Ostovich
Helen Ostovich, professor emerita of English at McMaster University, is the founder
and general editor of Queen’s Men Editions. She is a general editor of The Revels Plays (Manchester University Press); Series
Editor of Studies in Performance and Early Modern Drama (Ashgate, now Routledge),
and series co-editor of Late Tudor and Stuart Drama (MIP); play-editor of several
works by Ben Jonson, in Four Comedies: Ben Jonson (1997); Every Man Out of his Humour (Revels 2001); and The Magnetic Lady (Cambridge 2012). She has also edited the Norton Shakespeare 3 The Merry Wives of Windsor Q1602 and F1623 (2015); The Late Lancashire Witches and A Jovial Crew for Richard Brome Online, revised for a 4-volume set from OUP 2021; The Ball, for the Oxford Complete Works of James Shirley (2021); The Merry Wives of Windsor for Internet Shakespeare Editions, and The Dutch Courtesan (with Erin Julian) for the Complete Works of John Marston, OUP 2022. She has published
many articles and book chapters on Jonson, Shakespeare, and others, and several book
collections, most recently Magical Transformations of the Early Modern English Stage with Lisa Hopkins (2014), and the equivalent to book website, Performance as Research in Early English Theatre Studies: The Three Ladies of London in Context containing scripts, glossary, almost fifty conference papers edited and updated to
essays; video; link to Queenʼs Mens Ediitons and YouTube: http://threeladiesoflondon.mcmaster.ca/contexts/index.htm, 2015. Recently, she was guest editor of Strangers and Aliens in London ca 1605,
Special Issue on Marston, Early Theatre 23.1 (June 2020). She can be contacted at ostovich@mcmaster.ca.
Janelle Jenstad
Janelle Jenstad is a Professor of English at the University of
Victoria, Director of The Map
of Early Modern London, and Director of Linked Early Modern Drama
Online. With Jennifer Roberts-Smith and Mark Kaethler, she
co-edited Shakespeare’s Language in Digital Media: Old
Words, New Tools (Routledge). She has edited John Stow’s
A Survey of London (1598 text) for MoEML
and is currently editing The Merchant of Venice
(with Stephen Wittek) and Heywood’s 2 If You Know Not
Me You Know Nobody for DRE. Her articles have appeared in
Digital Humanities Quarterly, Elizabethan Theatre, Early Modern
Literary Studies, Shakespeare
Bulletin, Renaissance and
Reformation, and The Journal of Medieval
and Early Modern Studies. She contributed chapters to Approaches to Teaching Othello (MLA); Teaching Early Modern Literature from the Archives
(MLA); Institutional Culture in Early Modern
England (Brill); Shakespeare, Language, and
the Stage (Arden); Performing Maternity in
Early Modern England (Ashgate); New
Directions in the Geohumanities (Routledge); Early Modern Studies and the Digital Turn (Iter);
Placing Names: Enriching and Integrating
Gazetteers (Indiana); Making Things and
Drawing Boundaries (Minnesota); Rethinking
Shakespeare Source Study: Audiences, Authors, and Digital
Technologies (Routledge); and Civic
Performance: Pageantry and Entertainments in Early Modern
London (Routledge). For more details, see janellejenstad.com.
Jason Gray
Jason Gray was an actor with Shakespeare and the Queenʼs Men Project. He played
Friar Baconin Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (2006) and
John Cobbler,
Bruges,and
Captainin Famous Victories (2006).
Joey Takeda
Joey Takeda is LEMDO’s Consulting Programmer and Designer, a role he
assumed in 2020 after three years as the Lead Developer on
LEMDO.
Julian DeZotti
Julian DeZotti was an actor with Shakespeare and the Queenʼs Men Project. He played
Margaretin Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (2006) and
Lawrence Costermonger,
Clerk,
First French Soldier,and
Katherine of Francein Famous Victories (2006).
Karen Sawyer Marsalek
Karen Sawyer Marsalek (Famous Victories of Henry V, early modern text) is an associate professor of English at St. Olaf College. She
has edited, directed and performed in several early English plays. Her publications
include essays on
trueresurrections in medieval drama and The Winter’s Tale,
falseresurrections in the Chester Antichrist and 1 Henry IV, and theatrical properties of skulls and severed heads. Her current research is on remains and revenants in the King’s Men’s repertory. She can be contacted at marsalek@stolaf.edu.
Kate LeBere
Project Manager, 2020–2021. Assistant Project Manager, 2019–2020. Textual Remediator
and Encoder, 2019–2021. Kate LeBere completed her BA (Hons.) in History and English
at the University of Victoria in 2020. During her degree she published papers in The Corvette (2018), The Albatross (2019), and PLVS VLTRA (2020) and presented at the English Undergraduate Conference (2019), Qualicum History
Conference (2020), and the Digital Humanities Summer Institute’s Project Management
in the Humanities Conference (2021). While her primary research focus was sixteenth
and seventeenth century England, she completed her honours thesis on Soviet ballet
during the Russian Cultural Revolution. She is currently a student at the University
of British Columbia’s iSchool, working on her masters in library and information science.
Linda Phillips
Linda Phillips was a costume designer with Shakespeare and the Queenʼs Men Project.
She worked on Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (2006).
Martin Holmes
Martin Holmes has worked as a developer in the
UVicʼs Humanities Computing and Media Centre for
over two decades, and has been involved with dozens
of Digital Humanities projects. He has served on
the TEI Technical Council and as Managing Editor of
the Journal of the TEI. He took over from Joey Takeda as
lead developer on LEMDO in 2020. He is a collaborator on
the SSHRC Partnership Grant led by Janelle Jenstad.
Mathew Martin
Dr. Mathew R. Martin is Full Professor at Brock University, Canada, and
Director of Brock’s PhD in Interdisciplinary Humanities. He is the
author of Between Theatre and Philosophy (2001)
and Tragedy and Trauma in the Plays of Christopher
Marlowe (2015) and co-editor, with his colleague James
Allard, of Staging Pain, 1500-1800: Violence and Trauma
in British Theatre (2009). For Broadview Press he has edited
Christopher Marlowe’s Edward the Second (2010),
Jew of Malta (2012), Doctor Faustus: The B-Text (2013), and Tamburlaine the Great Part One and Part Two (2014). For
Revels Editions he has edited George Peele’s David and
Bathsheba (2018) and Marlowe’s The Massacre
at Paris (forthcoming). He has published two articles of
textual criticism on the printed texts of Marlowe’s plays:
Inferior Readings: The Transmigration of(Early Theatre 17.2 [December 2014]), and (on the political inflections of the shifts in punctuation in the early editions of the play)Materialin Tamburlaine the Great
Accidents Happen: Roger Barnes’s 1612 Edition of Marlowe’s Edward the Second(Early Theatre 16.1 [June 2013]). His latest editing project is a Broadview edition of Robert Greene’s Selimus. He is also writing two books: one on psychoanalysis and literary theory and one on the language of non-violence in Elizabethan drama in the late 1580s and 1590s.
Matthew Krist
Matthew Krist was an actor with Shakespeare and the Queenʼs Men Project. He played
Rafe Simnell,
Richard,
Friar Bungay,and
Devilin Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (2006) and
Ned,
Cobblerʼs Wife,and
Drummerin Famous Victories (2006).
Navarra Houldin
Project manager 2022-present. Textual remediator 2021-present. Navarra Houldin (they/them)
completed their BA in History and Spanish at the University of Victoria in 2022. During
their degree, they worked as a teaching assistant with the University of Victoriaʼs
Department of Hispanic and Italian Studies. Their primary research was on gender and
sexuality in early modern Europe and Latin America.
Paul Hopkins
Paul Hopkins was an actor with Shakespeare and the Queenʼs Men Project. He played
Prince Edwardand
Other Clownsin Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (2006) and
Prince Henryin Famous Victories (2006).
Peter Cockett
Peter Cockett is an associate professor in the Theatre and Film Studies at McMaster
University. He is the general editor (performance), and technical co-ordinating editor
of Queen’s Men Editions. He was the stage director for the Shakespeare and the Queen’s Men project (SQM),
directing King Leir, The Famous Victories of Henry V, and Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (2006) and he is the performance editor for our editions of those plays. The process
behind those productions is documented in depth on his website Performing the Queen’s Men. Also featured on this site are his PAR productions of Clyomon and Clamydes (2009) and Three Ladies of London (2014). For the PLS, the University of Toronto’s Medieval and Renaissance Players,
he has directed the Digby Mary Magdalene (2003) and the double bill of George Peele’s The Old Wives Tale and the Chester Antichrist (2004). He also directed An Experiment in Elizabethan Comedy (2005) for the SQM project and Inside Out: The Persistence of Allegory (2008) in collaboration with Alan Dessen. Peter is a professional actor and director
with numerous stage and screen credits. He can be contacted at cockett@mcmaster.ca.
Peter Higginson
Peter Higginson was an actor with Shakespeare and the Queenʼs Men Project. He played
Mason,
King of Castile,and
Friendin Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (2006) and
Robin Pewtererand
Yorkin Famous Victories (2006).
Phillip Borg
Phillip Borg was an actor with Shakespeare and the Queenʼs Men Project. He played
Thomas,
Lambert,
Constable,and
Spiritin Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (2006) and
Lord Mayor,
Porter,
Captain,
Third French Soldier,
English Soldier,and
French Secretaryin Famous Victories (2006).
Scott Clarkson
Scott Clarkson was an actor with Shakespeare and the Queenʼs Men Project. He played
Edward Lacyin Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (2006) and
First Receiver,
Cutbert Cutter,
Canterbury,
Herald,and
Frenchmanin Famous Victories (2006).
Scott Matthews
Scott Maynard
Scott Maynard was an actor and musical director with Shakespeare and the Queenʼs Men
Project. He played
Clementand
Emperor of Germanyin Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (2006) and
Exeterin Famous Victories (2006).
Tracey El Hajj
Junior Programmer 2019–2020. Research Associate 2020–2021. Tracey received her PhD
from the Department of English at the University of Victoria in the field of Science
and Technology Studies. Her research focuses on the algorhythmics of networked communications. She was a 2019–2020 President’s Fellow in Research-Enriched
Teaching at UVic, where she taught an advanced course on
Artificial Intelligence and Everyday Life.Tracey was also a member of the Map of Early Modern London team, between 2018 and 2021. Between 2020 and 2021, she was a fellow in residence at the Praxis Studio for Comparative Media Studies, where she investigated the relationships between artificial intelligence, creativity, health, and justice. As of July 2021, Tracey has moved into the alt-ac world for a term position, while also teaching in the English Department at the University of Victoria.
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Orgography
LEMDO Team (LEMD1)
The LEMDO Team is based at the University of Victoria and normally comprises the project
director, the lead developer, project manager, junior developers(s), remediators,
encoders, and remediating editors.
QME Editorial Board (QMEB1)
The QME Editorial Board consists of Helen Ostovich, General Editor; Peter Cockett, General Editor (Performance); and Andrew Griffin, General Editor (Text), with the support of an Advisory Board.
Queenʼs Men Editions (QME1)
The Queen’s Men Editions anthology is led by Helen Ostovich, General Editor; Peter
Cockett, General Editor (Performance); and Andrew Griffin, General Editor (Text).
University of Victoria (UVIC1)
https://www.uvic.ca/Witnesses
Adams, Joseph Quincy. Chief
Pre-Shakespearean Dramas: A Selection of Plays Illustrating the History of the English
Drama from its Origin Down to Shakespeare. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin, 1924.
Bullough, Geoffrey, ed.
The Famous Victories of Henry the
Fifth. Narrative and
Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare. Vol. 4.
London: Routledge
and Kegan Paul; rpt. New
York: Columbia University
Press, 1962.
299–343.
Corbin, Peter and Douglas Sedge,
eds. The Oldcastle Controversy: Sir John Oldcastle, Part
I and The Famous Victories of Henry V.
Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1991. WSB ad162.
Edited by
Mathew Martin.
Hazlitt, William Carew, ed. The
Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth, Conteining the Honorable Battell of
Agincourt. Vol. 5. Shakespeare’s Library: A Collection of the
Plays Romances Novels Poems and Histories Employed by Shakespeare in the Composition
of
His Works. London: Reeves and Turner, 1875.
Pitcher, Seymour M. The Case for
Shakespeare’s Authorship of The Famous Victories, with the Complete Text of the Anonymous
Play.. New York:
SUNY Press, 1961. WSB aav291.
The Famous Victories of Henry
the Fifth: Containing the Honourable Battell of
Agin-Court. As it was Acted by the Kinges Maiesties
Servants. London:
Barnard Alsop,
1617. STC 13073. ESTC S4698. DEEP
253.
The Famous Victories of Henry
the fifth: Containing the Honourable Battell of
Agin-court: As it was plaide by the Queenes
Maiesties Players.
London: Thomas
Creed, 1598. STC 13072. ESTC S106379.
The Famous Victories of Henry V. Six Old Plays On Which Shakspeare Founded His Measure for
Measure. Comedy of Errors. Taming the
Shrew. K Henry IV and K. Henry
V. King Lear. 2 vols. London: J. Nichols, T.
Evans and H. Payne, 1779. ESTC T4012.
Metadata
Authority title | Famous Victories of Henry V |
Type of text | Primary Source Text |
Short title | FV: M |
Publisher | University of Victoria on the Linked Early Modern Drama Online Platform |
Series | Queenʼs Men Editions |
Source |
This modern text was prepared by Mathew Martin. First published in the QME 1.0 anthology on the ISE platform. Converted to TEI-XML
and remediated by the LEMDO Team for republication in the QME 2.0 anthology on the LEMDO platform
|
Editorial declaration | Edited according to the ISE Editorial Guidelines |
Edition | Released with Queenʼs Men Editions 2.0 |
Sponsor(s) |
Queenʼs Men EditionsThe Queen’s Men Editions anthology is led by Helen Ostovich, General Editor; Peter
Cockett, General Editor (Performance); and Andrew Griffin, General Editor (Text).
|
Encoding description | Encoded in TEI P5 according to the LEMDO Customization and Encoding Guidelines |
Document status | published, peer-reviewed |
Licence/availability | Intellectual copyright in this edition is held by the editor, Mathew Martin. The XML files of the semi-diplomatic transcription and the modern texts are licensed for reuse under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license, which means that they are freely downloadable without permission under the following conditions: (1) credit must be given to the editor, QME, and LEMDO in any subsequent use of the files and/or data; (2) derivatives (e.g., adapted scripts for performance) must be shared under the same CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license; and (3) commercial uses are not permitted without the knowledge and consent of QME, the editor, and LEMDO. Production photographs and videos on this site may not be downloaded. They appear freely on this site with the permission of the actors and the ACTRA union. They may be used within the context of university courses, within the classroom, and for reference within research contexts, including conferences, when credit is given to the producing company and to the actors. Commercial use of videos and photographs is forbidden. |