It’s 1415: King Henry V of England makes a grab for France. His cousin, French King Charles VI, sitzkriegs.

Henry and his army capture the French port city of Harfleur. Winter’s looming, Henry’s army is sick and hungry, and everyone just wants to go home. The French King has other ideas, and blockades their escape. They meet at Agincourt, on October 25, 1415.

The French outnumber the English five to one; pre-battle Gallic confidence arrows upwards. The underdogs win, decisively, thanks to the English longbow, and the rest is history.

Six hundred years after the battle, Henry V director Simon Herbert attributes his interest in this little-known history play to a guided tour of England’s Warwick Castle he did as a small boy.

“They had a longbowman demonstrating shooting, and he told us all about the Battle of Agincourt. It grabbed my imagination, and I’ve wanted to direct Henry V ever since,” Herbert said.

“And Henry V is one of my favourite Shakespearian plays. It’s not well-known, but it’s got some of the best speeches and finest poetry Shakespeare wrote.”

One of the most interesting things about Henry V are the different stories it tells about war, and the different stories we tell ourselves about war.

“We tell ourselves its patriotic and noble, but is it, really?”

Henry V by William Shakespeare
Directed by Simon Herbert
Iris Theatre Company

15 – 18 October 2015, 7.30pm
18 October, 2.00pm

The Dark Room, Palmerston North
Tickets: $15, $10 concession