‘The Making of a King’ by Stewart Trotter (and William Shakespeare and Anon.)

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‘The Making of a King’ by Stewart Trotter (and William Shakespeare and Anon.)

March 9, 2015 by Stewart Trotter

Brothers and Sisters of The Shakespeare Code

THRILLING NEWS!!!

Kevin Fraser…..

…..who runs the WORLD FAMOUS Titchfield Festival Theatre…

http://www.titchfieldfestivaltheatre.com/

….commissioned The Code’s Chief Agent,

Stewart Trotter

to write

The Making of a King

…..a play about how the dissolute Prince Harry of history….

…transformed into the heroic Henry V!!!

Stewart has just completed and delivered the script!!!

Kevin had this to say about it…..

I love The Making of a King. It has all the elements we need for a great play. It reads well and I’m sure we can get it cast. In think it’s great…..

And this is what Stewart has to say about it:

The Making of a King is based on four plays – the anonymous Elizabethan play ‘The Famous Victories of Henry V’ and William Shakespeare’s ‘Henry IV Parts One and Two’ and ‘King Henry V’.‘The Famous Victories of Henry V’ was performed by the Queen’s Players – a group set up by Queen Elizabeth I and her spymaster, Francis Walsingham, to disseminate Tudor propaganda. No-one knows who wrote the play but it is clear Shakespeare saw it and may even have worked on it with Thomas Kyd.

When Shakespeare re-wrote old plays, he always enriched their language and deepened their characterisation – but he often destroyed their structure. ‘The Famous Victories of Henry V’ deals with the transformation of dissolute Prince Harry to heroic King Henry V in a single play. By stretching the story over three plays, Shakespeare is in danger of blurring this theme.

So, ‘The Making of the King’ tries to restore the original play’s clarity of structure with the complexity of Shakespeare’s genius. It offers an explanation for Prince Harry’s affection for Sir John Falstaff: Harry believes his father, King Henry IV, loves his younger brother, Prince John, more than he loves him – so he craves a surrogate father.

All the plays show how war can test, deepen or break the bonds between men. But where Shakespeare’s play differs from the Queen’s Men version is its ambivalence towards Kingship. To be a good King, Hal has to become a bad friend – and few will forgive him for his rejection of Falstaff. ‘The Making of a King’ focuses on the strain of leadership – particularly in battle – and the play asks the same question that the King finally asks himself…..

…..‘Is Power worth it?’.

The play will be performed in Titchfield’s Great Barn….

….which was built just a few years before Agincourt….

….from 24th June to 4th July, 2015…..

[Note: The Great Barn is also used for Wedding Celebrations……

– and is proud to announce it will soon play host to it’s first Gay Wedding. This is particularly appropriate as it was in Titchfield that William Shakespeare….