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TONHOENSELAARS
Agenuinecommonambitionisindispensabletowardofftheupsurgeofnationalismand
clashesbetweencommunitiesacrossourcontinent.Thesameholdsfortheworldasawhole:in
thedialoguebetweencultures,whichtheentireplanetdesperatelyneeds.TodayEuropemust
realisetheroleitalonecanfulfil.Wehaveamoralandhistoricalobligation.(Italicsadded)
IgnaceCornelissen:
DesertStorm
and
HenryV
forchildren
TheEuropeanstanceonwarandculturein2004cameasasurprisetofew,sinceithad
beendevelopingsincetheearly1990s,andagainthetracesofShakespeare’sHenryV
allowustodemonstratethis.In1993,forexample,operationDesertStorminspiredthe
Belgianactor,directorandplaywrightIgnaceCornelissentowriteastageadaptationof
HenryVfortheFlemishtheatre.Inhissuccessfuladaptationforchildren,whichwas
performedbothacrossEuropeandinAsia,thecharactersofHenrytheFifthandthe
PrincessofFranceweredepictedaschildren.Ontheonehand,theyweresonaiveand
inexperiencedthatothersstillhadtoexplaintheword“death”tothem.Ontheother
hand,theyweregoodatquarreling,atfightingovereachothers’sandcastles(anactiv-
ityinthecourseofwhichthesoldierswhodiedwererepresentedbywhiteballoons
thatburstbecausetheywerepuncturedbytheenemy).Andaftertheirownversionof
Azincourt,thechildrentookabreaktogether,asifnothingeverhappened.Intriguing
aboutthisadaptationisthewayinwhichCornelissenmanagedtotriggertheinterac-
tionbetweentheworldoftheadultsandthatofthechildren.Theaudiencewasmadeto
wonderifthesewerechildrenplayingatwar,oriftheywereadultsfightingeachother
todeathinachildlikeor,perhapsmoreappropriately,achildishgame.
JacquesDarrasandAzincourtpoetry
NotallEuropeanappropriationsofHenryVduringthe1990swerearesponsetoop-
erationDesertStorm.JacquesDarras’visionaryversecollectionentitledWilliam
ShakespearesurlafalaisedeDouvres(1995),orhisJanvanEycknovel–VanEycket
lesrivières(1996)–seemmuchmoregearedtowardsformulatingtheEuropeancul-
ture-cum-peaceidealbuiltonpastinternalconflict.Inhiscollectionofverse,Jacques
DarrasdevotesnolessthanthreepoemstoHenryVand,inparticular,tothebattleof
Azincourt:“HenryPlantagenetpiedsnus,”“Leslilasblancsd’Azincourt,”and
“Plaidoyerpourunedoublecouronnelinguistique”(or,thevirtuesofmultilingualism).
AsaFrenchmanwithhisroots,asthenameDarrasindicates,intheAzincourtarea
innorthernFrance,Darrasmanagestogivehispoetryadirectandauthenticvoice.
Darrasisnotonlyamanoftheregion,butalsoawell-travelledacademicwhosecom-
mandoftheEnglishlanguagehasmademanydoubthistruenationality.Thiscosmo-
politansidetoDarras,whowasactiveinEuropeanStudiesatanearlydate,lendshis
poetry,thoughrootedinthenorthernFrenchmud,anurbantouch,awelcomesenseof