King Henry V

Synopsis: Televised broadcast of John Barton’s Elizabethan Theatre Company production of the play. As producer Michael MacOwan emphasises, this production "should be thought of not so much as a television production of Henry V, but as an attempt to show on the television screen the work that is being done by a group of young actors who are trying to return to the essentials of Elizabethan playing’" (Radio Times, 15 May 1953, p. 26).
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Television
Transmission details: 19 May 1953 at 20:45 (Channel: BBC)
Duration: 97 mins
Availability: Unavailable

Producer

John Barton; Michael MacOwan

Writer

William Shakespeare

Art Direction

Reece Pemberton

Cast

Colin George	King Henry V
Toby Robertson	Chorus
Michael David	Archbishop of Canterbury
Bernadette Sorel	Princess Katherine of France (Katherine)
Michael David	Dauphin
Clifford Rose	Ambassador
Clifford Rose	Earl of Salisbury
Clifford Rose	Governor of Harfleur
Clifford Rose	Sir Thomas Erpingham
Frank Windsor	Ancient Pistol (Pistol)
Frank Windsor	Michael Williams
Gordon Gostelow	Earl of Westmoreland
Gordon Gostelow	Fluellen
James Roughead	Duke of Exeter
Jocelyne Page	Queen Isabel of France (Queen Isabel)
Jocelyne Page	Hostess, formerly Mistress Quickly
John Southworth	King Charles VI of France
John Southworth	Montjoy
Keith Faulkner	Boy (Falstaff’s page)
Michael David	Earl of Warwick
Peter Jeffrey	Jamy
Peter Jeffrey	Constable of France
Reginald Selous	Lord Rambures
Reginald Selous	Corporal Nym (Nim)
Roger Milner	John Bates
Roger Milner	English Herald
Roger Milner	Macmorris
Roger Milner	French soldier (Le Fer)
Toby Robertson	Bishop of Ely
Toby Robertson	Duke of York
Toby Robertson	Gower
Toby Robertson	Duke of Burgundy
Trenor Stanley	Duke of Bedford
Trenor Stanley	Earl of Grandpre
Trenor Stanley	Duke of Bourbon
William Lawford	Bardolph
William Lawford	Duke of Gloucester
William Lawford	Duke of Orleans
Yvonne Bonnamy	Alice

Notes: The introductory exhortions of the Chorus ("Into a thousand parts divide one man ...") seems to have been used as the principal motto for this production in which some actors played four or five roles.
General: Production cost: £ 586 (BBC Play Library)
History: This production was presented as the first of the Elizabethan Theatre Company’s new season at Canterbury, England.
Figures: The BBC Research Report indicates that 36% of the adult viewing public watched the broadcast, but their responses added up to a "Reaction Index" of only 52, compared with 71 for Morley’s 1951 Life of Henry V (cf. Rothwell/Melzer, p. 95). The Reaction Index is a measurement of the quality
and success of the programme with the audience who had watched it. It is based on a range of 0 to 100.)
Reviews: Rothwell, Kenneth S. and Annabelle Henkin Melzer, Shakespeare on Screen: An International Filmography and Videography (London: Mansell, 1990), entry 174, p.95.

Shakespeare, "King Henry V". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/shakespeare/search/index.php/title/av36785 (Accessed 26 Nov 2024)

SHAKESPEARE