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begin, a cleaner the king's daughter, Katherine having her first
came on with his lesson in English. “l'armour, U albow, les
brooms and brushes fungare, d'niles”. Katherine was played
in a large blue splendidly by George Kemp, who also doubled
plastic trolley, as the Boy from the Boar's Head. All the female
dressed in baseball roles, as played traditionally by males, were
cap, iridescent very, very good - a comic, Mistress Quickly,
yellow jacket, through to the attractive and very convincing
shorts and work- Katherine. The simple, bare stage was effective
boots. We watched used with a minimum of props - a throne, a
as he swept the scaffold, cannons for the battle scenes. The
stage. Elizabethan costumes were beautifully
designed and hand-made - no zip-fasteners or
Suddenly, the three Velcros.
doors crashed open
and the whole The portrayal of violence was completely
costumed cast up-front - and at times heart-breaking. “You
entered - counter- would not hang me for thief!” was centre-stage
marching in a with the Boy sobbing in his father's arms as the
syncopated rhythm, chair was pulled by soldiers from under
coming to a halt Bardolph's feet and a rope around his neck
across the stage. pulled him high above their heads. At
The cleaner looked Agincourt, the Boy murdered by the French,
up from his broom was picked up by Henry (“I was not angry since
and trolley. “O for I came to France until now!”) and carried
a muse of fire that gently off the field to be buried with the other
would ascend the dead to a background anthem condemning the
brightest heaven of very notion of war.
invention. A
kingdom for a With England's total victory came political
stage, princes to settlement and the delightful wooing scene.
act, and monarchs “Fair Katherine, and most fair, will you
to behold the vouchsafe to teach a soldier terms such as will
swelling scene! enter a lady’s ear, and plead his love-suit to her
Then should the gentle heart?” Initially, she will not yield, but
war-like Harry, like follows her father's direction that England and
This exact replica of the exterior of the 1614 himself assume the port of Mars; and at his France will become one, and they - man and
Globe is a 16-sided polygon (27 metres in heels, leashed in like hounds, should famine, wife. She turns to Henry and to his amazement
diameter and 17 metres high) with a standing- sword, and fire, Crouch for employment.” takes his face gent`ly in her hands and kisses
audience capacity of 300 'groundlings', and 600 him passionately. He sweeps her up in his arms,
seats in three vertical galleries around the inside The cleaner was the Chorus! An incongruous, and kisses her even more passionately! A
wall. The protruding stage is 13 metres wide; but wonderfully effective link between players moment that had the audience howling its
its back-wall has three doors, with a balcony and audience. The action of the play moved us approval and its joy. Superb acting!
over the centre door, and a musicians’ gallery quickly to the Court, the Boars Head with
above it. It took six weeks and 200 builders and Mistress Quickly and Hal's former mates, to So what was it about these four very good
craftsmen to erect it in Melbourne's Botanical Southampton, France and Henry's first productions, (and they were very, very good)
Gardens next to the Myer Music Bowl. The successful battle. At the French court we met that made the Pop-up Globe season such an
New Zealanders also set up a large
production team employing actors,
artists, craftsmen, builders, costume
designers/makers, and production
specialists.
The Melbourne season ran from
September to February with Henry V,
Othello, As You Like It, and All's Well
that Ends Well. It had two separate
companies of players - The Queen's
Company of 10 male and 4 female
actors, and the King's Company of 16
male actors who also played the six
female roles. And what were these
performances like, played out in this
original Shakespearian setting? For this,
I'll concentrate on one of the plays,
Henry V, presented by the King's
Company.

The audience was amazingly
responsive. 600 sitting on the benches
in the three-story galleries around the
walls; the rest, including teen-age
school children, standing in the centre
Pit under the open roof. The stage was
bare. While we waited for the show to

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