As “The King’s Face” opens, Jonathan Bradmore enters the room where Prince Harry of Monmouth lies near death, wounded by an arrow to the face.
“Death makes no distinction between commoner and royalty,” says Bradmore, himself a commoner plucked from prison to save the life of England’s future king.
As the play unfolds, two characters with many distinctions among them develop a relationship under circumstances that largely cast those distinctions aside.
Opening Aug. 5, “The King’s Face” is the latest offering from Panglossian Productions, a local nonprofit theatre company with a penchant for innovation.
In addition to an annual season, Panglossian offers the “Plays in Progress” program, where local theatre artists work with playwrights, from all over, to develop their scripts.
That was how, in 2014, the company encountered “The King’s Face” and worked with playwright Steven Young.
It’s the first script from Plays in Progress that Panglossian has turned into full production, said director Ed Whitacre. He said the play has been produced only three other times: in England, Texas and California.
“It’s a historical piece of trivia,” Whitacre said.
Set in 1403, the play begins after Prince Harry, the future King Henry V, has been severely wounded by an arrow to the face during The Battle of Shrewsbury. King Henry IV brings Bradmore, a surgeon, out of prison in a desperate effort to save the prince’s life. Bradmore invents a surgical instrument, and succeeds in saving Harry. These events are historically based.
The relationship between the two, though, stems more from the interpretation of the playwright, as well as cast and crew.
“It’s not a complex plot, but they are complex relationships,” said Ron Reid, who plays Bradmore.
Theirs is a relationship complicated by many differences: in class and privilege, age and life experience.
Reid and Trey Heath, as Prince Harry, had never met before cast in the play’s only roles. They’ve spent the past several weeks getting to know each other, just as Bradmore and Harry spend the play’s two hours doing the same.
“It develops from a relationship of kind of uncertainty, or on (Harry’s) part mistrust, to a relationship of … friendship, and a real bond between the two characters by the end of the play,” Reid said.
“It’s not just a history lesson,” said stage manager Elizabeth Reid. “These are actual people.”
People from different lifestyles, she said, who cross those boundaries to find common ground. She said watching two people with so many differences find similarities is a message that transcends time periods.
“If we’re able to have discourse, and we’re able to tolerate disagreements,” Whitacre said, “it builds peace.”
That’s a pillar of the play in Whitacre’s mind, and a piece he hopes audiences find important, too.
“(Prince Harry and Bradmore) come to a real understanding of each other, which is going to affect their lives forever,” he said. “It’s not going to change their world, but for them, in their own experience of it, it will.”
Bridges can be reached by phone at 757-345-2342.
Want to go?
When: 7:30 p.m., Aug. 5-6 and 12-13; 2 p.m., Aug. 7 and 14
Where: Williamsburg Regional Library, 515 Scotland St.
Tickets: $16/advance, $18/door, $10/students
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit panglossian.org.
