The Public Theater

Mark Wing-Davey's controversial staging of Shakespeare's play about a British king coming of age in wartime felt particularly relevant when Henry V opened at the Delacorte Theater in June 2003, just months after the beginning of the war in Iraq. The director's choice of contemporary dress and weaponry, as well as his use of familiar imagery turned this play into a commentary on war and globalism.

Young King Henry V is persuaded to claim France as part of his kingdom and leads his army in an invasion. After a victory at Harfleur, his fortunes turn downwards, leaving him with plotting nobles, cowardly companions and an exhausted and outnumbered army. Before the battle at Agincourt, he rouses his men with a stirring speech on the glories of war and the English win the day. Henry gains control of France, and solidifies it by marriage to the French princess.