Bizarre, modern twist on 'Henry V' proves tragically hip

By Stephanie Love
Daily Arts Writer

Michael Rubenstone gets in your face as a '90s kind of Hal in "Henry V."

A group of London punks meet for drinks. Meatloaf is playing in the background, and Henry V is clad in leather.

Halloween? Not quite. It's Shakespeare with a new twist, and "Henry V" as you know it will never be the same.

The opening percussion, played from a maze of scaffolding, set the scene for what was to be an unpredictable evening. But while the audience may have expected guns and gore, what they got was a visual onslaught.

From the costumes to the props to the set itself, the sights and sounds of the production were both entertaining and disturbing.

Mark Gmazel (Pistol) stole the show with his drunken antics, never appearing on stage without drink in hand. From his escapades with his rag-tag cronies Nym and Bardoff to his rendition of Bruce Springsteen's "War" while the downtrodden British Army looked on, Gmazel took Shakespeare and made it his own.

What was difficult for the audience was the story. With such a large cast, the plot was sometimes lost in the spectacle. Each scene incorporated so many visual details that it was sometimes hard to know what to look at and listen to. The audience member without much knowledge of "Henry V" was sometimes left in the dark when the story became more complicated, but the overall plot was apparent and at times enhanced by the staging.

REVIEW
	Henry V Dec. 4, 1997 Power Center

The scene after the death of Falstaff was particularly good, showcasing the modern interpretation's strengths. Pistol's wife (Heather Weiner) was both comical and promiscuous. Her performance was reminiscent of Adelaide in "Guys and Dolls," bringing new life to what could have been a mundane role.

Michael Rubenstone (Henry V) also gave a commendable performance.

After starting the play with scenes from "Henry IV Parts I & II" which show Henry as the whoring drunk, Henry gets the throne and a haircut, a drastic change. But it was easy to miss Henry's transformation from loser to visionary leader. Because there was no distinction between the plays, it appeared as if there were two different characters rather than the evolution of a king as was intended.

Kelly Rector (Katherine) pulled of the role of snotty French princess with ease, rattling off a primarily French scene in a bathtub. Other scenes, such as the war sequences, dragged on like a bad Kung-Fu movie. The scenes did have a "West Side Story" appeal despite their length, as soldiers clambered up walls while the drummers played in the background.

A drunken Pistol (Mark Gmazel) proved the highlight of U Prod's modernized "Henry V."

But despite the war theme, Henry V was the only one who used a gun. Soldiers battled each other with hooks and fists. And there was only one decapitation.

What kept this production going was the comic relief. French soldiers watched "Scooby Doo" while planning their attack, the Brits chowed down on Burger King and Henry whipped out his French phrase book in order to woo Katherine.

The set was also effective, consisting mainly of sparse cinderblock walls which provided the backdrop for scenes at the French Court by the pool to the bloodied battlefield where the blood-stained walls were a constant reminder of the underlying violence.

While characters wore anything from leather to lingerie, put leeks to use as microphones and generally clambored around the stage chasing one anther, the audience was given ample opportunity to identify with the people in the play.

Though Shakespeare didn't intend "Henry V" to translate into a modern society, he couldn't help but approve of this production and the way it worked to involved the audience with the performers, even if the modernization caused some confusion. Audience connection is exactly what this production is about.

12-05-97