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open-air Shakespeare

Greek Theatre Players

June 2010:

Henry VI, parts 2 & 3

dir: Bob Hutt

The story so far …..

Henry V’s untimely death at the young age of 34 has left the throne to his infant son at the age of 9 months. He is crowned Henry VI but with the Duke of Gloucester, his late father’s brother, as Lord Protector to the young King.

HENRY VI – Part 2

In a powerful opening scene the ambitious Earl of Suffolk, returning from a diplomatic mission to France, presents the naïve young King Henry with a French bride, Margaret of Anjou, chosen to help unite the two countries. But when the King’s uncle Gloucester reads out the terms of the betrothal which agrees the surrender of Anjou and Maine, territories hard won from the French by Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt, shock and dismay spreads through the assembled company of powerful barons. With King Henry meekly assenting and leaving the Chamber, the long-standing feud between the House of Lancaster led by the Duke of Somerset, and the House of York led by the eponymous Duke, comes to the surface and sides are quickly taken in what will become known as the Wars of the Roses.

A scheming alliance between York’s old enemy Cardinal Beaufort and the newly created Duke of Suffolk, now Queen Margaret’s lover, results in Gloucester’s death and Suffolk’s banishment. York is sent to Ireland to quell an uprising and employs a headstrong Kentishman, Jack Cade, to stir up discontent among the poorer classes and bring rebellion to London whilst he is away. Not only is the rebellion put down by the old Lancastrian warrior Lord Clifford, but as York returns he also discovers his old enemy Somerset now finding favour with the Royal Household.

Backed by the immensely powerful father and son Earls of Salisbury and Warwick, York challenges the King and battle ensues at St. Albans. Somerset is killed, York slays Clifford in single combat, King Henry flees and the play concludes with Warwick and the Yorkists looking forward to great times ahead.

Production dates: Sunday 20th June – Copped Hall Wednesday 23rd - Saturday 26th June at Walthamstow School for Girls Sunday 27th June - Capel Manor

HENRY VI – Part 3

Part 3 begins with the victorious Yorkists battering their way into the parliament house in London where they engage in a full-scale confrontation with the King over York’s rightful claim to the throne. The feeble Henry concedes that the crown should pass to York once he himself is dead which pleases neither his own Queen, furious at her young son Prince Edward being disinherited, nor York’s own offspring Edward, George and Richard who believe the throne to be their father’s by right. Angriest of all is Young Clifford, madly seeking revenge for his father’s death at the hands of the Duke of York. When he finds York’s youngest son Rutland alone in the care of his tutor the boy is brutally murdered, after which Clifford and the now equally fearsome Margaret hound York to his death in a mercilessly tragic scene at the battle of Wakefield.

Further bloodshed follows at Towton, where the pious, pitiful Henry delivers a sensitive soliloquy on the follies of civil war. York’s eldest son Edward is victorious there and takes the throne as Edward IV. Henry flees to Scotland and Warwick is dispatched on a diplomatic sortie to seek the French King’s sister as a bride for his new monarch. But when the mighty Warwick is embarrassingly informed in the presence of King Louis that Edward has already married one Lady Grey back in England, he readily switches sides to support Queen Margaret. He returns to England with French reinforcements and with the support of Edward’s brother George captures the new king and reinstates Henry on the throne.

On nobody’s side but his own throughout all this is Richard ‘Crookback’ Gloucester. With his eyes set firmly on the crown, he first ‘springs’ his brother Edward from Warwick’s custody, and then helps patch up relations with brother George so that all three can challenge and defeat Warwick at the Battle of Barnet. This leaves only Margaret to fight the Lancastrian cause while poor King Henry languishes in the Tower. A final confrontation takes place at Tewkesbury where young Prince Edward is slain by the Yorkist brothers, leaving his distraught mother begging in vain for her own death. Richard limps his way to the Tower to murder King Henry, returning ominously to the palace in the final scene to observe the celebrations at the birth of his brother Edward’s baby son, the brand new heir to the throne …...