Kenny Y.
Yelp
So this review is for Henry V, which is part of the Shaw Festival, but is playing at Jackie Maxwell Studio Theatre. However if you try to Google reviews for this play, you can't find one anywhere except by some newspapers; no reviews by the common every day folk like myself. So I thought it was my duty to inform people about this play, plus I haven't written anything in a long time. I'm posting here for Shaw Festival Theatre as there is no Yelp page for Jackie Maxwell. I've also posted this review on the Shaw Festival Yelp page.
I'm not a professional play critic, but I've been a fan of Shakespare my whole life. I've seen many plays (Shakespeare and non-Shakeskpeare) at the Stratford Festival, Mirvish productions, and other smaller playhouses in Toronto, and some US cities, and Asia.
I've never been to the Shaw Festival and was initially excited to see a play there. The Jackie Maxwell Studio Theatre turned out to be a very small theatre where the "stage" is in the center of a big room, surrounded by stadium type seating (the chairs themselves were crappy folding chairs).
The stage was relatively small. Sure, not a problem I thought, as I have been to other plays where it was a small center stage and they were done very well.
Someone in an officer's costume started off the play and the rest were wearing NCM/NCO uniforms. What made it confusing was that King Henry was dressed just as a normal NCM. I assumed he would be wearing an officer's uniform or stand out more somehow, but for some reason King Henry is a NCM but he was lower ranked than the officer who first started the play? An actor later calls him King Harry. I don't know if that was by mistake or if this play was meant to be funny.
As the play went on, and as other players took on other characters, they never changed clothes or did anything to distinguish themselves as a different character (aside maybe trying to change their voice). Other plays I've been to they put on a hat or cloak or something different so you can visually see they were a different person. This play was confusing to follow due to this aspect.
One example was when one player was referred to as "captain", but the person would be wearing a corporal rank on their sleeve. This bothered me because I have a military background.
When switching scenes, the Officer would actually call out "Act 2, Scene 4" then give a description of the scene they were supposed to be in. None of the props changed, and they would pretend they were now in a bar, or where ever else they needed to be. So you will have to use your imagination quite a bit.
A problem with this play is the stage was initially cluttered with WWII type decor, depicting as if they were in perhaps a trench or bunker. Other small plays I've been to, with a similar center stage setup, would at least dim the lights, change some props around and put on different clothes,then bring the lights up again. This play, did not.
Another weird fact was during the play, several members would literally have the King Henry V book opened in front of them and be following along as others spoke. Several times actors forgot their lines, and at the start of the play, someone out right said "I don't know this part".
This was extremely unprofesionally I thought and retracted from my experience.
All in all, I thought this was a terrible play. It was poorly rehearsed and simply NOT enjoyable. The actors and director should be ashamed of this production. Honestly, I've seen high school and university plays that were better than this.
I will not be returning to the Shaw Festival anytime soon as this was probably the worst play I've ever seen.