The First Henry

The First Henry
Written and directed by C. Aspden Pomfret. KADS Town Square Theatre, Kalamunda, WA. 13 Feb - 7 Mar 2015

KADS' latest production is the World Premiere of this historical drama centred on the battle to be king, between the sons of William the Conquerer.

Carl Aspden Pomfret has a clear passion for the topic and a wonderful historical grasp. His writing has great merit - although despite being a huge history fan, I feel that this story may have been more effective in a shorter more concise format.

The acting was of a high order, with the cast including many of the best male talent from Perth's East. Rodney Van Gronigen was very strong in the title role portraying the conflicted future king very well. Joe Isaia is convincingly leacherous and dislikable as reigning King, Rufus the Red, while John Pomfret, brother of author/director Carl, plays middle brother Robert very nicely.

Good support came from Keith Scrivens as Gilbert of Clare, Kim Taylor as William Gifford, Jason Millman as the Captain and Owen Davis as the Guard. Luke Heath, looking convincingly over a dozen years younger than his true age, created probably his best performance to date as unfortunate page Peter.

The set, designed by Alistair Woodcock, lent great atmosphere and created two distinct castle-like settings. Costumes, uncredited in the programme, lent an aura of the era.

Despite producing excellent performances and obviously understanding the material, I found myself wondering if this work may have been clearer in the hands of a different director as sometimes the clarity and through-lines were blurred and not as strong as they could have been, given the gravity of the script.

Despite small reservations, I was intrigued with The First Henry and have found myself reading more about this interesting period of history.

Kimberley Shaw

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