SOURCE: Goodland, Katharine. “Henry V.” Shakespeare Bulletin 21, no. 2 (spring-summer 2003): 13-14.

In the following review, Goodland praises the 2003 Jean Cocteau Repertory staging of Henry V, directed by David Fuller. Goodland examines the production's focus on the moral issue of war crimes—particularly the scene in which Henry orders his soldiers to kill their prisoners—and notes that “Fuller admirably refuses to simplify this moment.”

Perfectly paced and punctuated throughout by Bob Dylan songs, David Fuller's production of Henry V begets a layered dialogue between Shakespeare's study of kingship and carnage and America's most troubling military intervention. As the play opens, we feel abruptly immersed in the chaos of combat. The theatre goes black as the distinctive popping sound of M16 rifles grows deafening in the intimate 140-seat space. Boots thud down the center aisle to the stage. The lights come up on a skirmish between actors clad like NVA...