Stage: Hooray For Henry!
Illyria Theatre Company are presenting Shakespeare’s Henry V in Queen’s Park, Brighton
This year, for the fourth year running, Friends of Queen’s Park are happy to bring you Illyria Theatre Company’s latest Shakespeare production, Henry V, the ‘bard’s’ most popular historical drama. Rapidly becoming a traditional summer event in Queen’s Park, this year is all the more special because it not only coincides with The Year of Shakespeare, the Olympics and the Queen’s Jubilee, but also with Illyria Theatre Company’s own 21st anniversary.
Full of patriotism, pageantry and poetry, Henry V tells the gripping story of an inexperienced king who leads a small and weakened army into the battle of Agincourt against the might of the French battalions. Despite his own stirring rhetoric, Henry wrestles with his conscience about what it means to be king and to lead good men towards a fate so bleak.
Yet even with the odds stacked heavily against them, the English win a sweeping victory. After such an extraordinary military conquest, how will Henry fare with the greatest challenge of all – the conquest of Princess Katherine’s heart? This play has twice been the subject of major film adaptations, one starring Laurence Olivier and another starring Kenneth Branagh. Brimming with excitement, romance and a surprising amount of comedy, it is now performed by Illyria, as originally written, with a reduced cast and on a stage inspired by those of the mediaeval touring troupes.
Henry V, Royal Spa Nursery, Queen’s Park, Saturday 7 July, 6.30pm, £12 adult, £6 under 16. Tickets non-refundable.
Brighton Dome, 01273 709709 or www.brightonticketshop.com
Dress for the weather, bring a picnic and a rug or chair.
Resounding Success
Following the success of their winter cabaret Seasons of Love, Brighton and Hove’s newest male voice group, Resound, are now in the final weeks of preparation for their summer show Jazz, Lovers And Others which is to be performed at St Andrew’s Church in Waterloo Street, Hove, on Saturday, 7 July at 7.30pm.
Joining Resound in this evening of jazz and more will be the Alvin Burrell Quintet and mezzo soprano Thomasin Trezise from Glyndebourne Opera. The programme, ranging from music of the 1920s through to compositions by Miles Davis and Pat Metheny, will include special arrangements of cool standards like ‘Body and Soul’, ‘The Nearness of You’, and ‘Four’ alongside musical theatre numbers by Stephen Sondheim and Jason Robert Brown. The pop classics ‘How Deep is Your Love’ by the Bee Gees and ‘After the Rain’ by ABBA’s Benny Andersson will add yet another dimension to this unique and eclectic show.
Resound’s musical director, the Swedish opera singer Stefan Holmström, says; “It is quite rare for this type of collaboration to take place so I’m really excited that we have chance to put on a truly special concert. There is a wonderful tradition in barbershop and close harmony vocal jazz – mostly developed in the USA – that we are having a lot of fun exploring. It’s a challenge vocally not only because these songs must be sung well technically, but also with great feeling.”
Jazz, Lovers And Others, Brighton Dome and the Iron Duke Hotel, from Saturday 7 July, 7.30pm, £8.50 (£7.50 concession).
www.resoundmalevoices.org
