On a lovely July evening this summer, my husband and I packed a light picnic, put camp chairs in the back of the car, and made our way to ISU’s quad, where we watched a performance of Shakespeare’s Henry V (the full title is The Life of Henry the Fifth). Montana Shakespeare in the Parks company tours Montana (and some few towns in border states) all summer long, offering live Shakespeare performances almost every night. The company had a two-night gig in Pocatello: Henry V on Monday, As You Like It on Tuesday night.

It was theatre al fresco. And it was fabulous.

True confessions here: I am 99 percent sure that Henry V was my first live Shakespeare performance. I took a Shakespeare class in grad school, a million years ago, and remember not a thing from it except that it was hard, writing essays for it was hard, and the professor was demanding. Why didn’t we go to see a play or watch a video? Words on the page are no doubt powerful, but so is a performance. On a recent July evening, I came to the play with some baggage to lose — which I did — and a whole new appreciation for the joy of live theatre.

I wouldn’t even know how to begin to write a proper review for the play. Someone way more scholarly would understand the plot structure, the characters’ complexities, and the historical reality at the time. But I did do some research, which led me down a rabbit hole of English history and events, persons from English and French history, the tensions and challenges facing royal leaders and regular citizens in fifteenth-century Great Britain. What follows are my reflections on the whole experience: the performance, the venue, the storyline, the characters, the drama depicted, and what the effect was on me (also, I hope, on others).

British royalty is both fascinating and mind-boggling. Henry V lived a very long time ago. He was born in September 1386, the eldest son of Henry IV, which is why he, at some point, ascended to the throne. When he was just a teenager, he was thrust into battle with his father and gained military experience that served him well when he was the leader of his own army. In my online research, Henry V is described as an important warrior king, which tracks for medieval royalty and medieval Europe. There is a lot more to know about Henry, or Harry, or Hank, or Hal, but the key points are that he died young (he was only 36) and he revived a campaign to claim the French crown for England.

Shakespeare wrote The Life of Henry the Fifth around 1599, which means he would not have experienced the events he portrayed, nor would he have had knowledge or contact with any of the participants, because they would have died 150 years before he put quill to paper. His is a historical rendering, a personal interpretation (for the stage) of a man’s life and legacy. This raises a whole ‘nother set of questions spinning in my mind. Shakespeare was prolific, but he also had a focus on / fascination with historical royal characters and wrote a series of plays (Richard II, Richard III; Henry IV, Part 1; Henry IV, Part 2; Henry V; and others) focusing on British kings. Some four of those plays are known as the Henriad plays, a term that was completely unfamiliar to me.

In Henry V, the young king and his retinue confront big ideas and big challenges: leadership, ambition, how power is communicated, the tensions between classes, the consequences of war (how to justify war), and the significance of victory. Heady stuff. Shakespeare can be hard to follow even when it is in print, right in front of your nose, so I was probably only able to note about half of the dialogue.

What I gleaned is that Henry is a king, he knows he is a king, he is emboldened by his king-ness, and those around him fall in line with his plans and aspirations. Because he is hot to expand England’s empire to France, he goes into battle with an army that is outnumbered, tired, diminished by struggle, hunger, and lack of provisions. Amazingly, the English prevailed at what is now called the Battle of Agincourt (1415), and Henry’s reputation as a successful strategist and soldier was established. The goal was unifying England and France, which military victory accomplished on one level, but to cement the relationship, Henry set his sights on marriage to the Princess Catherine of France, marriage in royal circles being a national chess game with women as the pawns. Sigh.

There are many great lines in Henry V (who knew?) and it poses important questions. One sequence that stood out to me was when Henry disguised himself as a fellow soldier to mingle amongst his troops before battle. There is banter and boyish bullying and Henry sees, in a way he could not have before, how his decisions as a king and leader have human, personal consequences. The common soldier Bates says to Henry, who he thinks is another common man and soldier: “Be friends, you English fools, be friends. We have French quarrels enough, if you could tell how to reckon.” In reflection, Henry delivers a remarkably self-aware soliloquy (Act 4, Scene 1) in which he declares: “Upon the King! Let us our lives, our souls, our debts, our careful wives, our children, and our sins, lay on the King! We must bear all. O, hard condition... What drink’st thou oft, instead of homage sweet, But poisoned flattery? Other memorable and recognizable lines declaimed by Henry include: “Once more unto the breach,” and “The game’s afoot.”

This is where I give a hearty shout-out to Montana Shakespeare in the Parks. As I type, they have two performances in Sandpoint. Over the course of 90 days this summer, they will deliver 79 performances all over the state of Montana, as well as Idaho, Wyoming, and North Dakota. Their portable set, terrific costumes, and fine actors with impeccable training brought live and authentic Shakespeare that was as impressive, I’d wager, as anything you might see on Broadway or in Chicago or Los Angeles.

The play and the performance caused me to reflect deeply about leadership and the wages of war, about alliances both personal and national, about the limits of self-confidence. So much of it was resonant with the people and politics I see all around me today: perception, vanity, ego, influence, management. If such topics were top of mind for Shakespeare, 425 years ago! Apparently, they will be the subject of future dramas, stories, and fictions (hundreds of years in the future).

Learn more about Shakespeare in the Parks at ShakespeareInTheParks.org and support their good work. And when you have the chance to see live theater, on the lawn at ISU or in your local public schools, or at the Fine Arts Center, go! I say go! You will not be disappointed.