On April 6, English teachers Shawn Layton, Lindsay Knapp, Micheal Knapp, Ken Shindle, and Latin teacher Dr. Ralph Smith journeyed to Brooklyn with 45 of their students to watch the Royal Shakespeare Company perform Henry V at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

“After seeing The Merry Wives of Windsor done by a smaller company, and Henry V done by a world renowned theater company, it was interesting to see the differences between the two levels of performance, ” senior Sarah Nisenson said.

Many of the students who attended had been on the field trip Layton organized in December to Drew University to see Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor. The overwhelming positive response students had to the first field trip prompted Layton to look into taking students to see another Shakespeare play.

Before viewing the performance, students in Layton’s AP Literature class read Henry IV, Part 1 and viewed the BBC’s 2013 adaptation of Henry IV, Part 2, in addition to studying Hamlet at the beginning of the year. 

Layton’s students had also watched parts of a recorded version of Henry IV: Part 1 which featured the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Alex Hassell as Prince Hal, who played the same character in the production students viewed on Wednesday.

“After reading Henry IV: Part 1, watching Henry IV: Part 2, and finally seeing Henry V, it was interesting to see the full transformation of Prince Hal,” senior April Tong said.

Henry V is a Shakespearean history that centers on Hal, now the newly crowned King Henry V, and his decision to invade and attempt to rule France. In the end, the English army is miraculously victorious, and Hal wins the heart of the French King’s daughter Katherine, thus linking France and England through marriage.

“My favorite scene was when the cast sang to mourn the death of their fellow Englishmen,” senior Emily Thomson said. “The trumpet playing was also really cool.”

The play ran for three hours, but kept all audience members entertained with lots of action, jokes, romance, and even on-stage explosions.

“I really enjoyed the special effects,” senior Jenna Landesman said. “The changing of the floor blew my mind.”

At one point in the play, a character on stage invited the audience to get involved, which resulted in an audience member yelling out to the actors, and the actors momentarily breaking character to laugh at the comment.

“The company did a great job reacting to the audience,” Thomson said. “Alex Hassell was particularly great.”

After the show, students ate lunch at Graziella’s, an Italian restaurant in Brooklyn which served pizza, salad, and cannolis. Between the play and the meal, it is certain that students went home feeling satisfied.

“Out of all the Shakespeare trips I have taken my students on, this was definitely the best performance I have seen,” Layton said.