Henry VI: Part 2: England's Fall

Synopsis

Jack Cade leads an anarchic uprising against Henry VI, made powerless by the warring factions of his new wife, Margaret of Anjou, and the House of York, as England descends deeper into anarchy and bloody civil strife.

Our Review:

21 January 2001

Note: The following review dates from the production's original Stratford run in January 2001.

Shakespeare's three plays about the reign of Henry VI are early works which lack the complexity and subtlety of some of his later histories. But there are riches enough in them to make these RSC productions in the round in a re-designed Swan Theatre well worth a visit.

This second play of the trilogy opens with the marriage of the teenage king to the strong-willed Margaret of Anjou. Queen Margaret's tempestuous affair with the Duke of Suffolk culminates in the duke's particularly bloody murder and decapitation. Meanwhile, the feuding between the leading barons reduces England to near anarchy and, by the end of the play, the Wars of the Roses have begun.

Henry VI is often portrayed merely as a weak king dominated by his wife. David Oyelowo offers us a much more complex figure. Young and terribly vulnerable, he has occasional passionate outburst...

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Latest User Review

USER: Whatsonstage.com - 22 May 2001:

What can I say but SEE IT!!!!!!!!...

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