HAVING flown back from the US just in time to start rehearsals with the RSC, director Edward Hall has a special perspective on what it is to be English.

He had been in Denver rehearsing another epic production - a reworking of the Tantalus myth in collaboration with other starry names like Sam Mendes and his father, Sir Peter Hall.

Then it was back to Stratford for Henry V, part of This England - The Histories Series - and he heads back to the States the day after opening here to complete rehearsals of Tantalus.

Hectic and disorienting? Not for the energetic Hall, who took his RSC cast off to an army camp for the first day of rehearsal, just to find out what raw recruits go through.

"It was great," he said. "We wanted to just go off and get a little flavour of army life and that's what happened.

"They have a saying 'Together Everyone Achieves More' from the word TEAM and that's what we are doing in this production - the story is told as a retrospective, with a chorus of 24 soldiers, looking back and telling the story of this great moment in the past.

"There were also many links between the US play and this - that is about a ten year war between the Greeks and Trojans that has gone on for so long, no-one can remember why it started. It traces the birth and development of Western civilisation and Henry V is really looking at the beginnings of the modern world but, again, these are people who have lost their leader, who are rudderless and full of argument."

Although we may now have had our fill of war and warriors, Hall says Shakespeare's play is full of relevance for today.

"When you think of the issues of nationalism, which are at the heart of the play, it is very pertinent to raise it now," he says, pointing to devolved governments in the UK.

This leaves the English unsure of who and what they are - "especially when so many of our symbols and even our very pride in being English have been hi-jacked by the far right."

Henry V begins with the nation fractured, rebellious, dissolute, just moving out of civil war - "then along comes this man who unites everyone and pulls of a miraculous victory.

"The metaphor for us is we all have a fierce sense of our national identity and we keep it deep down. When we pull together we can achieve great things."

For Hall this is not just a metaphor for the English, but for his cast - headed by William Houston - many of whom have worked in previous productions in this critically acclaimed series. With sell-out audiences and rave reviews the anticipation mounts for the opening of Henry V in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre on August 31 - previews from today (Thursday).