Henry V | Globe Tickets

There’s plenty of similarities between 15th-century battles and political debates in 2022. Discover how events that take place centuries apart reflect one another in William Shakespeare’s Henry V.

Henry V encourages audiences to consider what it means to be British. Although plenty of the Henry V play action takes place on the French battlefield, Henry V will be staged in the intimate, candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. Henry V is part of Shakespeare’s Globe winter 2022 season, including Hakawatis, Titus Andronicus and The Winter’s Tale. Holly Race Roughan directs Henry V in London.

What is Henry V play about?

The Henry V play covers key moments in the Hundred Years’ War, notably events before and after the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. At the start of the play, the newly-crowned monarch Henry V hastily makes the decision to invade France, in the hopes of ruling both countries either side of the English channel. The French king Charles VI, also known as Charles the Mad, rejects Henry VI’s ideas, and will defend his country by whatever means.

The two armies prepare to fight; the French army are confident, meanwhile the English army are downtrodden. Henry V ultimately puts faith in his band of brothers, and the English win, in spite of the armies disparate sizes. France and England are linked both politically and in marriage, as Henry V wins the heart of Katherine of Valois.