Merrigong Theatre Company presents Bell Shakespeare's HENRY 5 in Wollongong

Merrigong Theatre Company is thrilled to present Bell Shakespeare’s HENRY 5, one of Shakespeare’s finest historical plays, at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre from April 30 to May 3, 2025.

Restlessly interrogating and updating Shakespeare’s classic for the modern world, Bell Shakespeare returns with a new production of Henry 5. Shakespeare’s questions of navigating leadership and culpability, judging heroic acts, and reconciling difficult truths come squarely into a 21st-century lens.

Young Prince Hal has left his wayward adolescence behind and assumed the mantle of kingship. Following a humiliating insult by the French prince, King Henry launches England into a war with France to claim the throne he believes is rightfully his. Against all odds, he leads his troops from despair to climactic victory at the Battle of Agincourt. He is hailed as a warrior and a hero. But at what cost?

On this powerful production, Director Marion Potts said, “I have worked with the Merrigong team in different roles for a long time now and have loved it each and every time. It’s thrilling to be now bringing a work of my own to Wollongong audiences.”

“Like all of Shakespeare’s writing, Henry 5 is so rich that it resonates differently for audiences at different times and under different circumstances. Young men inherit such strong expectations about masculinity and their role as ‘men’. I’m fascinated by these pressures, and by the humanity at the very core of the play, where people are trying to make choices between the very best and very worst of what we’re capable of.”

For more than thirty-five years, Bell Shakespeare has taken theatre to audiences, both old and young, around Australia, using Shakespeare’s universal insights to inspire and connect with each generation.