I thought they could do a pretty good assembly item on the First Fleet. The idea was for them to read their stories - letters to "home" as convicts - one at a time on stage while the rest acted out the voyage quietly in the background.

Ha!

It was a disaster! A disaster! Terrible! Hopeless! Pathetic!
From this class, the class with all the personality and
creativity and receptivity. How? How was it possible?
What a fiasco! It was the best thing that could have
happened!

After the assembly I was livid. How could they be so amateurish? So undisciplined? And so I told them - next assembly we were going to do Shakespeare’s Henry V is seven minutes - a mini Warner Bros. “What’s Opera Doc?” version!

They class went wild! They LOVED the idea. I was only half serious when I proposed (threatened) it - but perhaps it COULD work...
 

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I started typing up a script on a little Mac in the staffroom,
which was the only computer I had access to at the time.

“What are you doing?” they would ask.

“Henry V.”

“For what?”

“An assembly item.”

“Your class?”

“Yeah.”

“Year 3? Shakespeare?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, well, good luck...” And then they would walk away with a highly skeptical look on their faces.

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Costumes were more throwovers - red and blue for the English, with spray-painted Rampant Lions and Fleur de lis, hessian for the soldiers and the tavern followers of Falstaff, and a few capes. It was not supposed to be about the THINGS but about the performances. We used the soundtracks from both Olivier's and Brannagh's versions of Henry V for the music, which meant that the performance had to be free, and I had the great "good fortune" of having TWO toy shops go out of business (not good fortune for the toy shops, of course) and have sales on swords. Curiously, the toy shops succeeded one another, so they went out of business in the same place. The toy shops may be gone, but their wares live on to this day - the swords, now heavily battered and broken, are still put to use in battle scenes, though they are not longer used by “featured” characters.

Our sets were essentially provided by the government - thanks to the school's dual purpose at election times. Cardboard polling booths are fantastic set material; light, portable and modular. The city of Harfleur was nothing but two painted booths above which could emerge the Governor (on an aluminium ladder, in keeping with the Shakespearian tradition of anachronisms, of course), (actually, that ladder hit one of the "dead" French during the scene change. Did he move? No way! What a pro!). A cut down polling booth spray painted gold also served for the throne. It could take the weight even of an adult but ONLY if you sat on it in just the right way. Over the years, too many people have sat on it in other ways so the latest throne is made of heavy duty wood, though its proportions as well as its upholstery derive from the original polling booth version.

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The play was performed on Monday, October 25, 1993 - 578 years to the day (give or take a time zone) after the Battle of Agincourt. Last minute forgotten-costume dramas, a pre-play slide show with slides from the reject bin at the old Burwood Teacher Resource Centre of the Globe Theatre (I KNEW they’d come in handy one day), and a lucky door praise made for a show filled with MAGIC. It was fantastic performance, extremely well received by (incredulous) staff, amazed parent, excited kids, and a relieved teacher!

Had they had enough? No! We went straight from that to a Reader’s Theatre of Much Ado About Nothing (using most of the text), as well as discussions worthy of a Year 12 class on the ethics of Henry’s invasion of France and rejection of Falstaff. A lot of the time was also taken up with “who would I be good as?” questions from the kids for 1994. Even knowing they would no longer have class time to rehearse but would have to do it exclusively on their time, their enthusiasm was undiminished. We even tried to arrange an excursion to see Kenneth Brannagh’s Much Ado but alas, it was PG and out of our sphere (I ended up taking some enthusiasts to see it anyway during the holidays with parents blessing, the first of many such outings which continue to this day). Kids would also fill my heart with happiness by bringing in books from the library about Shakespeare, the War of the Roses, stories from Shakespeare, and learning great tracts of the original text. My “evil” but very bright Cambridge learned the entire Crispin’s Day speech for the talent quest. My Chorus STILL knows her opening speech! During rehearsal for Henry V (1999) my new Henry met my old Exeter. “What treasure, Uncle?” he asked. “Tennis balls, my liege!” came the unhesitating reply!

It is inexplicable to me how this performance wasn't selected for State Drama. I've never seen anything at State Drama that could hold a sputtering candle to this.

Still, an insignificant ding in an otherwise bright a wholly uplifting experience, but could it be done again? What would the future hold? Was it a fluke?

I toyed with a number of ideas: do another play with whatever class I get (no, too much interest from the current class). Do another text - Le Morte d’Arthur?

No. Go for the top. Do the ultimate. Let’s test their mettle! Next stop - Hamlet!

Cast

Christopher Woznyi	Henry
Julieanne Horsman	Chorus
Julia Reece	Herald
Elizabeth Scibilia	Exeter
Nicholas Lee	York
Glenn Paul	Williams
Jessica Benten	Cambridge
Kimberlee Bond	Scroop
Daniel Maher	Grey
Sandy Hodges	Canterbury
Karen Biggenden	Hostess
Melanie Hofman	Bates
Tara Homewood	Nym
Kit Lai	Princess Katherine
Shane Slater	Bardolph
Maryham Farag	Governor of Harfluer
Aaron Fiez	Dauphin
Terisa Kelly	Ely
Christopher Martin	LeFer
Daniel Morales	Soldier
Anthony Graf	Falstaff
Brett Hall	King of France
Daimen Standring	Pistol