King Henry V

Last weekend I attended King Henry V at the Guthrie Theatre. I really like Shakespeare. I feel like it can be really fun if you see a good production of it. The Guthrie is nationally renown to have a great Shakespeare program. Henry V is one of Shakespeare's histories. I thought it would be pretty boring, I mean Shakespeare can be intense and in this case it would be history mixed with Shakespeare. But it was one of my favorite plays. The play is about a young monarch, Henry V, who wants to take over France. Henry deals with the responsibility of ruling a nation and his own ambitious dreams. As the story gets more involved in the war, Henry feels the mounting pressure and privately has a break down. In the end, the young King takes over France and marries Princess Katherine. It was at the Dowling Stage, which doesn't haven't assigned seating, so I got to sit in the front. I think that really made a big difference. Henry would come right up to the edge and having a raging fit. His character would go between a calm diplomat, a "off with his head" attitude (later shown in Henry VIII), and charming young man. The actual man who played Henry was Matthew Amendt. He was amazing. At one point he had to cry in front of the audience, but then in the next scene he would pronounce his love for Kate. I enjoyed it so much that I'm going to see it again this Friday. I would encourage everyone to see it. This is the last weekend it's in town, and I know it sold out for both evenings. I feel like Matthew Amendt really brought Henry to life and he is my new favorite actor.