“Glory is like a circle in the water”: Shakespeare, words and water at the archaeological site of...
Suzanne Marie Taylor (University of Portsmouth)
Shakespeare’s Henry VI, Part 1 is listed in Philip Henslowe’s surviving accounts book as
having premiered at the Rose Playhouse on the 3rd March, 1592. The second premiere of Henry
VI, Part 1 took place 419 years later on the 6th May, 2011, within the archaeological site of the
Rose Playhouse. This paper will reflect upon my experience of embodying the role of Joan La
Pucelle in Henry VI, Part 1 in May 2011 within the body of the archaeological site of the Rose
Playhouse, and how the words of Shakespeare took on new meaning while performing on site.
This paper will therefore focus on Joan’s words- “Glory is like a circle in the water/Which
never ceaseth to enlarge itself” (1592/2000, 1.11. 133-34) and consider how Joan’s glory
ultimately transformed itself into the playhouse’s archaeological glory with the Rose’s remains
outlined by an illuminated red “circle in the water”. This paper will further consider how Henry
VI, Part 1 and the Rose Playhouse’s materiality and biography are written in the water at the
Rose site, by looking at artefacts excavated in the 1988/89 archaeological dig of the Rose;
looking at Henslowe’s accounts book and the Henslowe papers; contemplating the staging of
the May 2011 production of Henry VI, Part 1, and by comparing reviews of the 1592 and 2011
productions. This paper will highlight that the archaeology of the Rose is constantly enlarging
itself though a vibrant, evolving materiality and biography which is fluid in the water and
reflected in Shakespeare’s words.