The play centres on the highpoint of England’s aggression against France in the Hundred Years’ War. Shakespeare takes one of England’s best-known military kings, who died six hundred years ago this year, and gives him some of the most rousing lines in the English language. It is here that you will find ‘Once more unto the breach’ and ‘We band of brothers’. This abridged version keeps these Shakespearean ‘greatest hits’, focusing on the English victories at Harfleur and Agincourt (1415). Gone is the French princess’s English lesson, most of the dialogue to do with diplomacy, and much of the material on Welsh mining. Preserved is a zippy version of the play, that takes in the justifications for English expansion into France and the expansion itself, while introducing us to the famous characters of Henry, Pistol, Bardolph, Nym, the Dauphin, and many tabard-wearing lords. We would like to thank all of the NCS boys, families and friends who have worked so hard, either behind the scenes or on the stage, to make this staging of Henry V such a success.