The Stage
The Coade Hall, Bryanston School, Dorset, England
My Stage Story
The Archer's Tale
I must have been about 14. It was the 70s. The Sex Pistols had just released God Save the Queen and we were all hanging razor blades round our necks and slashing our t-shirts. We were in full blown rebellion against whatever there was.
So it came as something of shock, when our English teacher, normally a right-on kind of guy, insisted that our class attend a one man show about the Battle of Agincourt. What?! But wait, it got worse, the actor was blind. What were they trying to do to this poor guy?
As the lights dimmed for the evening's performance – on he shuffled, following a white line that led to a mark dangerously close to the edge of the stage. He was carrying a long bow – bigger than he was – and dressed in period clothing.
Not single snigger cut the silence. We all knew at once that there was something magical about this man. He opened his mouth and we were transported back in time to April 1415 when the Governor, Sir John Turville, was trying to conscript an army. The story unfolded, like a tale told over a pint in the pub, of the long bow man's experiences at Agincourt, his love of the Long Bow.
"…a terrific weapon, about as thick as a birch tree in the middle where you hold it with you left hand, tapering off either end, made of yew, and the method was you get your arrow, knotch her…, bring the fletches up to your right cheek, and hold it, look down the shaft, then push out, push up with your left arm, stretch the muscles back in the neck, open the chest, hold it, hold it, hold it, aim, … And off they go!"
And we were there, all of us would-be-punks, right in the thick of it. With all the chaos and the bloodshed and the mud and the frightened horses and the screaming and shouting and the clashing of swords and swishing arrows…
This single, brave, blind archer helped us see it all with a clarity that still haunts me today.
The actor's name: Esmond Knight - 1906-1987. Pure genius.
Previously Creative Director at Ogilvy (amongst others), Simon Frank is a screenwriter and partner at Bats In Belfries, London.
Image credit: EsmondKnight.org.uk
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