Bucks Free Press

At the start of Henry V, Shakespeare admits that it would be difficult to show all the action "within the wooden O"; but he succeeded. Wildcard Theatre Company went a stage further with its production. Actors and chorus of 50 youngsters from schools in Slough told the story of the battle of Agincourt between the old enemies of England and France within the close confines of the studio at Norden Farm, with the audience right there in the action. Jackboots, uniforms and camouflage dressed the play for today. Remembering that Shakespeare wrote for his time, one thespian told me " He would have been very pleased with this".

Sleeping troops were packed into the floor space as the audience took their seats. No movement , not a twitch or a sign of recognition from them. It was inspiring. And they continued right through to the end. You could almost feel their focus and smell their concentration - they knew

what they had to do and they did it superbly. For me, there were two amazing moments: one was looking into the dead eyes of a soldier on watch trying to fight sleep as his head dropped, then jerked back and finally dropped again. This was their show and they had obviously worked so hard to give what was a truly professional performance. Shakespeare loved his comedy and the tavern crew were the chancers on the lookout for a freebie. A delightful pink, fluffy, pig was wound up and wiggled its way into the spotlight only to meet a swift end with the thief, for all his endearing ways, meeting his end on the scaffold.

Wildcard's professional actors stepped into uniforms and Ivanhoe Norona was fluently Welsh as Fluellen and Matthew Rowland - Roberts darted around between nations as the Dauphin (with armour and flowing white scarf), Gower in RAF garb and Nym in the tavern. Students Nicholas Edgeworth and Darrel Reynold shared the role of "Boy" learned their many lines and brought tears to the eyes at their death in battle. A superb production, thanks due especially to Andrew Potter for his direction, vision, inspiration and fight scenes. Wonderful to see the professionals, working so well with the youngsters. Like me, I think the Bard would have been cheering.