Henry V

Hampstead Theatre

20 July

London is beset with histories this year,

a summer of Henrys and Richards –

if you can call it a summer.

Here is the manliest, awash with blood

and beer, music and muscle,

played out on a stage of chainmail,

punchbags and clanking metal.

The battles race, the pace set

by a marching band, a beating drum,

the shouts of men and rousing swell of song.

The man himself is strong as oxen,

chiselled, quakeless as a king,

and in his merry band is wit and fire,

saunter and swagger, as if their troop

had been a hundred strong.

Henry V, by Propeller, ran at Hampstead Theatre until 21 July.
http://propeller.org.uk/home