Monte mounts a triumphant 'Henry V'

Monday, May 07, 2007

BY PETER FILICHIA

Star-Ledger Staff

Support their troops.

The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey is doing "Henry V," the Bard's most famous militaristic play. While this script is often perceived as a glorification of war, artistic director Bonnie J. Monte has smartly added the many downsides of armed conflict, too.

Monte has conceived the production as a bare-bones rehearsal in her Madison playhouse. There is no set, aside from turned-around flats leaning against the back wall and a hurly-burly of scattered furniture. The 21 actors wear whatever they seem to have grabbed from the racks in the costume shop.

The play usually begins with a proud actor orating, "O for a Muse of fire that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention" -- which suggests that one is coming. Here, Monte has Jack Wetherall slowly emerge from a trap door, looking exhausted, and saying the line with a "Boy, do we need it now" plea. The tone is immediately set that the 1415-1420 war between England and France will indeed be hell.

Though Monte stages the play as a run-through, she doesn't have her cast run through it. More than three hours are required to tell the story of wastrel Prince Hal who suddenly finds he's King Henry V. Now that greatness has been thrust upon him, he'll have to achieve some during his on-the-job training.

Still, in David Conrad's arresting performance, this Henry is ready to rule. Conrad is full of youthful energy, can play tough with his enemies, shows disgust when his men fight among themselves -- and can cry when betrayed. While Conrad has all the leadership qualities required, he says the famous "Once more unto the breach" speech not as a war-cry, but as a fervent prayer. Late in the play, he shows both pain and astonishment of what he's wrought when he sees the casualty lists.

Monte makes Wetherall more of an Emcee than The Chorus that Shakespeare probably envisioned, but he and the concept work well. After that exhausted start, this Emcee finds his stage legs and becomes charming. But five years of war take their toll, and Wetherall shows the wear-and-tear when he introduces the later scenes.

Commendable work comes from old pros (Richard Bourg as the ever-loyal Earl of Westmoreland) down to the newer kids on the block (Seamus Mulcahy as the Boy). Ames Adamson, one of the state's funniest actors, provides plenty of comic relief as the garrulous but agreeable Fluellen.

Kate Baldwin amuses as Princess Katherine of France in two scenes, one where she doesn't quite know what to make of this Henry who comes courting her, and the other in which she confidently believes she's splendidly learning English. In the latter scene, Baldwin is wonderfully matched by Chantal Jean-Pierre, who's a patient teacher. Another standout in the French sequences is John Patrick Doherty's Dauphin, who talks a good ball game, but whose shaky hands and arms reveal his nervousness.

Before the show, Monte addressed her audience, noting that the theater was now opening earlier than ever before, offering seven shows a year, and was entering its 45th season. "That's 2 million in theater years," she said, and the crowd laughed with understanding.

Theaters come and go, but The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey deserves another 2 million.