It is said that you should never meet your heroes. What if you have to play them onstage?
Actor Brendan Edward Kennedy will appear as Hal/Henry V in “The King’s Shadow” tetralogy of Shakespeare’s history plays in repertory
Prince Hal and King Henry V had been on my acting bucket list since I first fell in love with Shakespeare. His arc from a louche prankster-prince to a confident king-in-wartime is an actor goldmine, and I wanted in on that. I gobbled up every bit of Henriad media I could get my hands on. From live performance DVDs from the Globe and RSC, to Kenneth Branagh’s muddy, bloody Henry V, to the just-fine Hollow Crown (don’t @ me), to Orson Welles’ lauded disasterpiece Chimes At Midnight, I had taken in more than a Lancaster lion’s share. I’ve debated endlessly with myself over whether I should get “All things are ready, if our minds be so” tattooed on my arm. And if you can believe it, I’ve even read through the whole Henriad, acting out all the parts with different voices. By myself. For fun.
More than once.
Needless to say, when Brave Spirits offered me the role of Henry in the Histories rep, I pounced. I had so many ideas about the character: how he feels as the most prominent outsider in the English court; how he relates to his father, Henry IV, and his surrogate dad, Falstaff; how crushed he is to leave his former life behind; how he grapples with doubt on the eve of battle; how he toils in the fields of Agincourt to win a kingdom by the grace of God; and just how fulfilled he is (or isn’t) in that victory. I was excited to dig in deep over the next two years and get the good work done.
Funny thing about ideas you have as an actor: you’re not the only one who has them. It’s not that yours aren’t valid. It’s just that you have to make room to share with your scene partners, your dramaturgs, and your director. So, when Charlene said we were going to take a more critical perspective on Hal/Henry V’s actions, all those fine ideas I had needed to shift.
The first page of Brendan Kennedy’s (Prince Hal) paraphrasing notes
With this new perspective in mind, I found some unexpected and unnerving aspects of Henry’s character emerging. Suddenly, Hal’s pranks come off a little callous and bully-like. His off-handed sexism is a little less ironic, more straight-faced. He’s cocksure at times and more cunning than he lets on. He throws his former friends in jail. As king, he plunges a realm ravaged by rebellion into yet another conflict, all because his dying dad wanted him to. In battle, he stands on the razor’s edge between discipline and savagery. He’s seen the horrors of war firsthand and the terrible choices that come with it, and goes on anyway, thinking he’s right, that he must be right. And, perhaps worst of all, he coerces the princess of a conquered kingdom into a political marriage, because what other choice does she have?
Just like that, the role I was downright giddy to play seemed a lot more daunting.
When preparing to play a “villain” onstage, the common knowledge is that you must give them depth by finding the tender, more human parts of their personality. When playing a “hero” like Hal or Henry V, however, it’s the flip-side: to bring them truly to life, you must find their darker, harder parts. Adding that level of nuance, complexity, and ambiguity can be difficult to fathom. You don’t want to think about the bad things the good guys do to win. As I prepare to play one of the most celebrated “good guy” kings in history, I have to stare down a lot of bad. It’s an uncomfortable place to be.
Staging rehearsals have officially begun, and I’m still uncomfortable. I’ll probably be uncomfortable for a while yet. I don’t think that’s a problem, though. I’ve come to think of it as an opportunity for discovery. Hal isn’t an utter monster, but he’s no saint either. He’s somewhere in-between. Call it “human.”
It would be easier by a longshot to sweep all that dirt, grit, and grime away to play a squeaky-clean Hal-in-shining-armor. But no one wants to see that. And honestly, I don’t want to play him that way. When you have to play your heroes, you’ve got to be willing to get a little messy, to be a little less comfortable. It’ll be a challenge, but I think it’s one that’s worth the effort.
– Brendan Edward Kennedy
BST’s tetralogy repertory begins with Richard II in January 2020
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