After the turmoil and uncertainty of Henry IV a new era appears to dawn for England with the accession of the eponymous Henry V. In this sunny pageant Chorus guides us along Henry's glittering carpet ride of success as the new king completes his transformation from rebellious wastrel to a truly regal potentate. Of course, there is an underlying feeling that the good times won't last, and this is good reason for all to enjoy the Indian summer before the protracted and bitter fall of the house of Lancaster portrayed in the three parts of Henry VI.
Of all Shakespeare's plays about kings and the issues of sovereignty, Henry V is the brightest and least troubled. The interest of the audience in Henry's bewilderingly successful career is maintained by the sheer vigour of the action, and the contrast between the stilted dignity of the royal court and the ribald shenanigans of Pistol and his companions. Henry's rise to renown and acclamation is mirrored in reverse by Pistol's fall to humiliation and imminent destitution. Ironically in a drama which speaks so much of war and devastation, the only on-stage violence is the fight between Fluellen and Pistol in Act 5.
In the final summation, Chorus warns of the future loss by his inept sucessor of all that Henry has won. The glory of the reign of Henry the Fifth was not only impossible to sustain but also contained the seeds which brought the House of Lancaster to destruction.
(Introduction by Algy Pug)
Is there a deadline?
We ask that you submit your recorded sections within 1-2 months of placing your claim (or by the target completion date, whatever is sooner). Please note that to be fair to the readers who have completed their sections in a timely way, if you haven't submitted your recording(s) after two months, your sections will automatically be re-opened for other readers to claim, unless you post in this thread to request an extension. Extensions will be granted at the discretion of the Book Coordinator. If you cannot do your section, for whatever reason, just let me know and it’ll go back to the pool. There’s no shame in this; we’re all volunteers and things happen. The target completion date for this project is May 1, 2011.
How to claim a part, and 'how it all works' here
To find a role to record, simply look at point 5. below at the sections. All the ones without names beside them are “up for grabs.” Click "Post reply" at the top left of the screen and tell us which role you’d like to read. Read points 6. to 8. below for what to do before, during and after your recording.
Please claim roles (the numbers in the first column below)! Please note: All Librivox recordings are in the public domain. When you submit your recording, you will be placing your recording in the public domain as well.
If this is your first recording, please let me know under which name or pseudonym you'd like to appear in the LibriVox catalogue. We can also link to a personal website/blog.
Make sure you add this to the beginning of your recording:
[Role], read by [your name].
If you are reading stage directions, please include for each file:
At the beginning: Act [#] of [Title], by [author]. This is a Librivox recording. All Librivox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit Librivox dot org.
At the end: End of Act [#]. At the end of the play, add End of [title], by [author].
Please remember to check this thread frequently for updates!
AFTER recording:
Save files as 128 kbps MP3 henryv_role_#.mp3 (all lower-case), where # is the act number.
ID3 V2 tags: Not needed for individual parts.
Transfer of files (completed recordings)
Please always post in this forum thread when you've sent a file. Also, post the length of the recording (file duration: mm:ss) together with the link.
Upload your file with the LibriVox Uploader (when your upload is complete, you will receive a link - please post it in this thread): http://upload.librivox.org
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You'll need to select the MC, which for this project is: ek - gloriana
The following roles have already been claimed:
Alice, a lady attending on Princess Katherine - Caroline Sophie
Archbishop of Canterbury - Sean Randall
Bardolph - kenrg
Bates, soldier in King Henry's army - aradlaw
Bishop of Ely - Algy Pug
Boy - Ezwa
Chorus - Gloriana
Duke of Exeter, uncle to Henry IV, great-uncle to Henry V - David Goldfarb
Fluellen - Martin Geeson
French Soldier - neckertb
Henry V, Prince, King of England - wildemoose
Hostess Quickly, hostess of a tavern in Eastcheap - Lucy_k_p
Katharine, daughter to Charles and Isabel - Ezwa
Lewis the Dauphin - neckertb
Pistol - Algy Pug
Administrative error - I had put you down for the part, but omitted to carry your name across from the spreadsheet. When the Magic Window is set up, your name will be there in lights.
All set! Algy, might I suggest for "All" that the readers for the roles of Henry, King of France, Queen Isabel, and Katherine read those lines as well. Instead of putting "All" as a separate character in the MW, I'd make a note for all four of those readers to just read the "All" lines in addition to their own.
Let me know if you need more or fewer lines in the MW.
Also: because the differentiation of the soldiers in Henry's army is so important in the text, perhaps it might be worth requiring readers to do an Irish accent for Macmorris and Scottish accent for Jamy. (I'm assuming Martin will do a Welsh accent for Fluellen...) Again, that could be noted in the MW.
Algy, I've filled in the MW with the roles, claims so far, and line # counts for the remaining roles, to make it easier for readers to see what's available and how large the roles are. Of course feel free to change anything that I've got wrong.
gloriana wrote:Algy, I've filled in the MW with the roles, claims so far, and line # counts for the remaining roles, to make it easier for readers to see what's available and how large the roles are. Of course feel free to change anything that I've got wrong.
Thank you Elizabeth
We are off to a tremendous start. This reading will be probably finished even more quickly than Dr Faustus was.
I have PMed readers who I think would be very good for Macmorris and Jamy.
I am also happy to read the lines for All if you wish.
