Before Nell & After Agincourt
The Crooked Billets brings Peter Mottley’s double bill, written in the 1980s. These one-handers use Shakespeare’s Henry V as a framework to explore themes of coming-of-age, class, PTSD and the real human cost of war.
Before Nell is told through the eyes of a boy actor preparing to take the stage as Nell Quickly aka Madame Pistol in the first ever production of Henry V. It presents an insight into the hardships and social dynamics of the time.
After Agincourt is a visceral and brutal recounting of the English invasion of France in 1415. Set in The Boar's Head Tavern seven years later, a drunk and bitter Pistol details the campaign of bloody battles in modern vernacular, at the same time tearing down the heroic picture of King Henry V we’re so familiar with.
