The Chorus apologises for the theatre – and recruits your imagination.

Two bishops, one threatened fortune, and a war quietly set in motion.

A question of conscience, sixty lines of law, and a joke that starts a war.

"Now all the youth of England are on fire" — the mirror of all Christian kings, and three traitors named before they act.

Nym and Pistol's bloodless duel over Nell Quickly — and the Hostess's quiet bombshell: "The king has killed his heart."

The Southampton plot: Henry's trap, the lament over Scroop — "another fall of man" — and the traitors sentenced by their own words.

The death of Falstaff — Arthur's bosom, green fields, "cold as any stone" — and Eastcheap leaves for France.

The French court divided over Henry — "idly kinged" or the Roman Brutus? — and Exeter arrives demanding the crown itself.

The fleet sails for Harfleur — "work, work your thoughts" — and France's first offer of Katharine is refused.

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends" — the tiger, the war-mask, and the most famous battle-cry in English.

The swashers dodge the breach, the Boy audits his masters — and Macmorris demands: "What ish my nation?"

The terrifying Harfleur ultimatum — infants on pikes, guilt transferred — and then, in four words, "Use mercy to them all."

Katharine's English lesson — Shakespeare's only all-French scene, from "de hand" to the scandal of "de coun".

"Norman bastards!" — French fury at the Somme crossing, the mocking madams, and the great muster of names.

Bardolph condemned to hang, Fluellen's "discipline ought to be used" — and Henry's disarming answer to Montjoy's defiance.

The French camp before Agincourt: "my horse is my mistress", the hooded valour, and a hundred Englishmen each by ten o'clock.

Henry's triumphant return to London, the refused victory parade — and Shakespeare's famous Essex allusion, the key to dating the play.

The disguised King debates responsibility with Williams, dismantles ceremony, and prays over his father's stolen crown.

The French dress for a triumph: the "fair show", and Grandpré's pitiless portrait of the scarecrow English.

The St Crispin's Day speech – "we few, we happy few, we band of brothers" – and the last refusal of ransom.

Pistol ransoms Monsieur le Fer for two hundred crowns — and the Boy delivers the "empty vessel" verdict.

"Shame and eternal shame, nothing but shame!" — the French collapse at Agincourt, in twenty-four lines.

York and Suffolk die kiss to kiss — and seconds later Henry orders every soldier to kill his prisoners.

The killing of the boys, Fluellen's "Alexander the Pig", and Montjoy's four-word surrender: "The day is yours."

The glove trick resolved with a glove full of crowns – and the Agincourt casualty lists that turn victory into miracle.

Henry's triumphant return to London, the refused victory parade — and Shakespeare's famous Essex allusion, the key to dating the play.

Fluellen makes Pistol eat the leek, Gower delivers the verdict — and Pistol's bleak exit closes the Eastcheap story.

Burgundy's ruined garden of France, the wooing of Katharine, and the treaty that turns conquest into marriage.

The Chorus's closing sonnet: Henry crowned "this star of England" – and the loss of France foretold in the same breath.