Friday 16 July 2010

What is good... SHAKESPEARE

PLAY AND INFO


Henry V the play by William Shakespeare

Summary of the plot or story
King Henry IV has died and his son Prince Hal reigns. It's war with France and all England rises up to back the King. At the city of Harfleur, the King and his forces encounter stiff resistance and King Hal rally's his forces with the patriotic rallying speech "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more..." England is united under Henry's leadership and win Harfleur. He then goes on to win the Battle of Agincourt and the French King surrenders.
He offers Henry the hand of his daughter, Katherine of Valois, in marriage so uniting England and France. After he marries Katherine, peace rules, and they have a son. However, after King Hal dies and his son becomes Henry VI, war again looms on the horizon.

Information provided about the play
William Shakespeare never published any of his plays and therefore none of the original manuscripts have survived. Eighteen unauthorised versions of his plays were, however, published during his lifetime in quarto editions by unscrupulous publishers (there were no copyright laws protecting Shakespeare and his works during the Elizabethan era). A collection of his works did not appear until 1623 ( a full seven years after Shakespeare's death on April 23, 1616) when two of his fellow actors, John Hemminges and Henry Condell, posthumously recorded his work and published 36 of William’s plays in the First Folio. Some dates are therefore approximate other dates are substantiated by historical events, records of performances and the dates plays appeared in print.

Date first performed
It is believed that the play was first performed between 1598 and 1599. In the Elizabethan era
there was a huge demand for new entertainment and Henry V would have been produced immediately following the completion of the play.

Date first printed
It is believed that the script
was first printed in 1600. As William Shakespeare clearly did not want his work published details of the play would have therefore been noted, and often pirated without his consent, following a performance.

The theme of Henry V
The play is categorised as a History

Number of words
The number of words in the script, according to the Complete Public Domain Text is 27,684.

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