The Henry VI Plays

by Hampton-Reeves, Stuart; Chillington Rutter, Carol

• ISBN13: 9780719080937
• ISBN10: 0719080932
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-04-01
• Publisher: OXFORD UNIV PR

Summary

The Henry VI plays are exciting, dark plays. In their day, they were among Shakespeare's most popular works, but they fell out of fashion - until the twentieth century, when the theatre rediscovered the plays' potency and their uncanny resonance with contemporary issues. In a story which stretches over thirty years, Shakespeare dramatises the fall of the House of Lancaster and creates some of his most compelling characters, among them the Queen Margaret and the wildly ambitious Richard, Duke of Gloucester (the future Richard III). With these plays, Shakespeare shows 'England bleeding'. This book, the first major study of the Henry VI plays in performance, focuses on the cultural context of modern British productions which have explored Shakespeare's troubling depiction of England in crisis. Chapters are devoted to full-length studies of the following productions: the Birmingham Rep's, staged during the Festival of Britain; Peter Hall and John Barton's landmark The Wars of the Roses; Terry Hands' Folio-text trilogy; Michael Bogdanov's 'punk' Shakespeare; Adrian Noble's dazzling The Plantagenets; Katie Mitchell's Bosnian Henry VI: Part Three; and Michael Boyd's award-winning cycle for the RSC. The plays have also been televised several times and we look at the rarely-seen series An Age of Kings and Jane Howell's celebrated productions for the BBC.

Author Biography

Stuart Hampton-Reeves art is Principal Lecturer in English and Drama at the University of Central Lancashire.

Carol Chillington Rutter is Professor of English at the University of Warwick.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Henry VI and national culture * Playing Henry VI in the early modern period * Rediscoveries: Nation, war and empire (1899--1953) * The Wars of the Roses: The RSC's Henry VI and Edward IV (1963-- 4) * A true trilogy: The RSC's Henry VI (1977--79) * Henry VI and the BBC (1960 and 1981--3) * English counter--histories: The ESC’s House of Lancaster and House of York (1987--89) * Acts of war: The RSC’s The Plantagenets (1988--1990) * Plundering in front of hell: The RSC’s Henry VI-- The Battle For the Throne (1994--1995) * Black comedies: The RSC’s millennial Henry VI (2000--2001) * Bibliography * Appendix: Cast and crew

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