HENRY VI, part 1
Oregon Shakespeare Festival production

If name dropping adds value to a director, then this is the show to do it in. The cast included Bill Hurt, who three years later would be a bona-fide movie star. Other actors of name-dropping currency were Michael Horton, Denis Arndt, Larry Ballard, Eric Miller, le Clanche du Rand, Peter Silbert. My only regret was not casting Jean Smart. "Henry" was my first professional production and a complete joy - a dark halloween version of "capture the flag". It was a sleeper hit among long-time festival fans and Shakespeare scholars.

Actors also pictured with perhaps less name-dropping value but of no less worth to the play were Randi Douglas, Bill Moreing, David Boushey, Alan Blumenfeld, Barry Mulholland.

"What was striking to purists like myself was how faithful Huddleston remained to the spirit of the play despite various cuts and how neatly many of his alterations worked. Perhaps most important, Huddleston managed to capture the pageantry, action, and enthusiasm of an English history play.

Such a brief account cannot do justice to the richness and texture of this production, which realized both the body and the spirit of the original play. With such a repertory company and dedicated director, individual talents can be coordinated into a larger pattern or experience very close to the essence of much Elizabethan theatre."
Alan C. Dessen -- SHAKESPEARE QUARTERLY

"In the fantastic muddle of conniving nobles, director Will Huddleston uses the play's pageants and theatrical thicks to the hilt. Through his swift, swirling production Huddleston indicates how the intrigues will plunge the next generation into a 30 years' war."
Richard L. Coe -- THE WASHINGTON POST

On the left you see Peter Silbert and Jeff Brooks. On the right you see Bill Hurt shooting Mark Murphey in the face with a cannon.