Performance of Henry IV, Part I, New Fortune Theatre, UWA

Performance of Henry IV, Part I, New Fortune Theatre, UWA

ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions, collaboratory, Rob Conkie, Elizabethan, Fortune Playhouse, Fortune Theatre, Henry IV, Henry IV Part I, La Trobe University, La Trobe Theatre and Drama School, New Fortune Theatre, performance, Performing Old Emotions on the New Fortune Stage, Perth, William Shakespeare, theatre, University of Western Australia, UWA, WA, Western Australia

This series of photographs were taken at the performance of the play Henry IV Part I by William Shakespeare at the New Fortune Theatre at the University of Western Australia on September 16, 2011. The free performance was part of the three-day Collaboratory ‘Performing Old Emotions on the New Fortune Stage’ hosted by the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions. The cast was from La Trobe Theatre and Drama School, La Trobe University, and directed by Rob Cronkie. The performance drew on ‘original staging practices’ and was performed in an Elizabethan-style theatre, based on the layout of the Fortune Theatre/Fortune Playhouse built in London in 1599-1600. Like the Fortune, the New Fortune Theatre is square, has three covered levels plus open-air pit, and an open stage. The theatre opened in 1964. Authentic aspects of the performance of Henry IV Part I, other than the venue, included an all-male cast of only five actors who played multiple roles, including those of female characters, a minimal set and stage props, interaction with the audience including resident peacocks, and a partly transient audience wandering in and out at will (it was a free performance).

Despite this Elizabethan pedigree, the play itself is set in late medieval England during the reign of Henry IV, 1399 to 1413.

McLeod, Shane

16 September 2011

No Copyright

Digital Photograph; JPEG

Digital Photograph; JPEG