BEFORE HARFLEUR by Bill Kirton
Those uncomprehending one star reviews can lead to despair, but don’t let them dishearten you. It’s happened to the best of scribblers. Samuel Pepys found Midsummer’s Night’s Dream ‘insipid’ and ‘ridiculous’ while Tolstoy thought all the Bard’s plays were ‘trivial and positively bad’ and that he was ‘an insignificant, inartistic writer’. So here’s an imagined exchange to keep that pen or those keys moving. HENRY: Right then, lads. Pretty soon we’ll be fighting the battle, see. Well, I won’t, but you will, and… er… well, what we need… No, what I meant to say is... what YOU need… er… Well, it’s like this... Oh Christ, hang on… SPIN DOCTOR: ‘avin’ a bit o’ trouble? HENRY: Yeah. I got this army to lead into battle in a minute, I can’t seem to get ’em goin’. SPIN DOCTOR: Try this. HENRY: What is it? SPIN DOCTOR: Special speech. Thought one might be needed. I just wrote it. You can ’ave it for a guinea. HENRY: Let’s have a look… (HE READS THE P...