Once more unto the ruins

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BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS This year�s SIR production makes full use of the building and grounds at Trappist Monastery Provincial Heritage Park. (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

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Boris Minkevich / Winnipeg Free Press Nadine Pinette as Katherine and Toby Hughes as Henry V. (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

At the beginning of Shakespeare's war-themed Henry V, the Chorus (a single character) talks about the impossibility of dramatizing military battles within the walls of a theatre.

"Can this cockpit (theatre) hold the vasty fields of France?" he asks the audience, suggesting they use their imaginations for the play's sweeping outdoor scenes.

The mind's eye won't have to work too hard, though, as Shakespeare in the Ruins makes a long-awaited return to its original sylvan home with Henry V, tonight through June 23.

After nine seasons in exile from the once-crumbling Trappist Monastery ruins on the bank of the La Salle River in St. Norbert, the professional company is thrilled to return for its 19th season.

It's now "once more unto the breach, dear friends" -- to quote one of the play's legendary speeches -- for the nine-actor troupe as it charges back to its namesake setting for 24 evening and matinee performances, hoping bigger-than-ever audiences troop along.

Henry V is the history-based portrait of a young, newly crowned British king (actor Toby Hughes, 27, exactly the age of the character) who seeks to solidify his power and transcend his party-boy prince reputation by conquering France.

When he's taunted by the French Dauphin, who sends him a crate of tennis balls to mock his idle youth, he vows to transform them into cannon balls.

He also woos a French princess, Katherine, in the lighter romantic scenes.

Hughes, a University of Winnipeg theatre grad, played the same character in his frivolous Prince Hal period last summer in SIR's Henry IV parts I and II.

This time he has many more lines, including two of the Bard's most famous speeches: "Once more unto the breach" and the St. Crispin's Day speech, in which Henry movingly inspires his outnumbered troops with words including, "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers."

Is there a parallel between Henry's maturation and the actor's?

"Absolutely," says the lanky Hughes. "You have to man up and have those responsibilities... There's a parallel of feeling like I'm coming into my own."

Director Michelle Boulet, a founding member of SIR, has transposed the invasion from the 15th century to the First World War. To her, the majestic, burned-out Our Lady of the Prairies monastery church is hauntingly reminiscent of bombed-out historic buildings in Europe during the two world wars.

The roofless brick-and-stone church, which had a recent facelift as part of Trappist Monastery Provincial Heritage Park, has new floodlights inside and out. "At night, it's absolutely stunning," Boulet says.

And while the monastery grounds may not be "vasty fields," they're a much more pastoral and peaceful setting than Assiniboine Park, where the company spent the past six seasons.

The troupe can stretch out, without fear of colliding with yoga groups or deafening passing vehicles, and return to its signature "promenade" style, in which the crowd follows the action. Weather permitting, the audience will be led to five different locations inside and outside the ruins.

Boulet is taking full advantage of the picturesque architecture and topography. Soldiers, for instance, will climb up the riverbank to simulate climbing out of trenches.

Boulet and actor/musician Sarah Constible have written atmospheric songs in a First World War style, accompanied by a portable military piano.

The drama has been greatly edited to 19 characters and a running time of about two hours, including intermission.

Shakespeare portrays both the heroic idealism and the bloody atrocity of war. The play can be "spun," Boulet says, to seem pro- or antiwar. "Definitely, if you watch the (1944) Laurence Olivier version, it's a rah-rah call to arms."

"I've tried to strike a bit of a balance," she says, noting there are moments in which Henry is shockingly ruthless, even ordering prisoners of war executed.

"I find Henry a totally three-dimensional person," Boulet says. "I am absolutely against war, but there's something about this play that I find very compelling, very stirring and extremely watchable."

Hughes says the mix of wartime horror and absurdity reminds him of both Apocalypse Now and M*A*S*H*. "This play has both the gritty, realistic side and the comic buffoonery."

Hal's old tavern cronies become comic, cowardly foot soldiers who contrast with the honour-obsessed officers.

A much-loved coward and clown, the "fat knight" Sir John Falstaff -- Hal's closest friend in Henry IV -- is briefly mourned in this play. The anarchic rascal has no place in a mature monarch's life, Hughes says.

"Falstaff is so subversive. That kind of energy can't be around Hal. If he was in this play, it would undermine everything."

Hughes says he doesn't dwell on how the giants of Shakespearean acting have delivered Henry's immortal lines. The unique setting and cast make SIR's production its own thing, he says, and he'll make the role his own.

Besides, he says with a laugh, how can you compete with the misty-eyed Kenneth Branagh in the 1989 movie version of the St. Crispin's Day speech?

"It had a swelling orchestra underneath it and hundreds of extras -- and an actual battlefield. It's different."

Tickets to Henry V are $12 to $30 at PTE box office, 942-5483.

alison.mayes@freepress.mb.ca

Out standing in their field

Trappist Monastery Provincial Heritage Park is a short drive west of Pembina Highway in St. Norbert, on Rue des Ruines du Monastère, the same road as the new Southwood Golf and Country Club. It's about 30 minutes' drive from downtown Winnipeg. A map can be found at www.shakespeareintheruins.com

The parking lot holds about 50 cars. Overflow parking is on the road. There is bike locking available for cyclists. The site is wheelchair-accessible and volunteers will assist anyone with mobility issues.

Shakespeare in the Ruins is an outdoor presentation, so dress for the weather and wear comfortable shoes. If it's chilly, SIR has blankets to hand out.

No need to take a lawn chair. Two sizes of chairs are provided. Audience members pick up their chairs and follow the actors to several locations during the show, both inside and outside the historic ruins. A recent facelift of the ruins has allowed for more theatrical lighting.

In case of rain, the show moves inside a large tent.

It's advisable to bring insect repellent, but SIR will supply it if you forget. The troupe has also bought two "mosquito magnet" machines that will be in use.

Refreshments, including beer, wine, pop, coffee and small snacks, are for sale at the tent before the show and during intermission.

For washrooms, your choices are the provincial park outhouses or porta-potties, unless the nearby St. Norbert Arts Centre happens to be open.

The only way to reach the site by public transit is to get off on Pembina Highway and walk, which takes at least 20 minutes. A future dream for SIR is a shuttle bus, says general manager Matt Moreau.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 31, 2012 E8