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Synopsis The Famous History of the Life of Henry VIII (or All is True). A rarely performed Shakespearean historical play. The events of Henry's last 25 years, love, intrigue, war with France, Wolsey and the break with Rome. Kings and Rogues Season
Last week marked the Globe’s first return to Henry VIII in some 397 years. The last production, in 1613, was not a success - a stage cannon set fire to the thatched roof of the original theatre and burned it to the ground. Mercifully this time around, the theatrical fireworks were purely metaphorical.
The play is believed to be co-authored by Shakespeare and John Fletcher and was one of the bard’s final plays to be written and performed.
Mark Rosenblatt takes the helm of this rare revival with a cast that includes Dominic Rowan in the title role, Ian McNeice as Cardinal Wolsey, Kate Duchene as Katherine of Aragon and Miranda Raison as Anne Boleyn. It plays is repertoire at the Globe Theatre until August 21st.
Maxwell CooterWhatsonstage.com (three stars) – “There’s plenty of pageantry and much attention to detail … And Rosenblatt has made the reasonable decision to concentrate on the spectacle. What’s lacking is the humanity of Katherine, Henry’s discarded queen. One of the most sympathetic characters in the piece, Kate Duchene’s rather bizarre accent detracts from her plight … Rowan's Henry exudes masculinity and playfulness … It’s a touching portrayal of man, still half in love with his wife, yet also torn between lust for Anne Boleyn and his need to produce a male heir. There are some strong supporting performances … There’s some stirring music from Nigel Hess, but that only seeks to mask the holes in this drama … this play is rarely performed for a reason.”
Charles Spencer in the Daily Telegraph (three stars) – "The Tudor costumes - all velvet and ermine and huge codpieces for the randy king - are sumptuous, while the big scenes featuring choirs of schoolchildren singing in Latin and accompanied by blaring wind instruments prove genuinely spectacular… Dominic Rowan, dark rather than red-headed, plays Henry VIII with wit, energy and sudden enlivening moments of menace; Kate Duchêne proves genuinely touching as the unhappy rejected Catherine, and Miranda Raison brings a welcome dash of sex appeal to the fusty proceedings as Anne Boleyn. Best of all is Ian McNeice’s grotesque Cardinal Wolsey, who hisses out his lines like a poisonous snake and slithers across the stage like a disgustingly plump slug. When he’s on stage, this often inert play comes alive."
Fiona Mountford in the Evening Standard (three stars) – “This new production is unlikely to set anything ablaze … It’s hard to ascertain exactly where the focus lies, not least because Henry struggles to be the hero of his own play. Dominic Rowan is one of a number of good actors — Spooks star Miranda Raison as Anne Boleyn is another - stranded in rather thankless parts … As befits such a pageantry-stuffed work, the Globe has been got up to look more lavish than usual, and the addition of a forestage among the groundlings offers a more humanising dimension. Director Mark Rosenblatt adds interiority to scenes through some well-placed tableaux, but I don’t reckon we’ll be seeing this Shakespearean Henry again any time soon.”
Paul Taylor in the Independent(three stars) - “So though the production pulls all the stops out in a blaze of mitres, ivory silk, boy choristers in the gallery, and trumpet acclaim for the culminating baptism and Cranmer's prophecy of future national glory, there turns out to have been a cunning optical illusion here that cuts the sequence down to size… Amanda Lawrence's triple whammy of splendid cameos add up to a brilliant bluff-calling device. A snipe-faced Welsh eccentric, she's the lady-in-waiting who disputes Anne Boleyn's pious disavowal of any yearnings to be queen… trim, darkly handsome and enigmatic Dominic Rowan valuably keeps you guessing about the extent to which Henry is a conscious hypocrite in finding reasons of religious conscience for dumping his first wife.”
Michael Billington in the Guardian(three stars) – “As a collaborative venture between Shakespeare and Fletcher, the play lacks stylistic unity… Rosenblatt presents the play as a straightforward Tudor political thriller about the transience of earthly power… The play's tricky opening scene is made more, rather than less, confusing by having puppets embody the encounter of Henry and the French king at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. The modern puppet-fetish also reaches the point of absurdity with a capering Fool who lugs around a marionette supposedly embodying the king's conscience. This is made all the more gratuitous by the fact that Dominic Rowan's Henry is one of the production's outstanding strengths. Avoiding bluff heartiness, Rowan presents us with a Henry who is both impetuous and guilt-stricken.”
Sarah Hemming in the Financial Times(three stars) – “Watching the play it’s clear that the reason it is rarely staged – not just at the Globe, but anywhere – is that its episodic nature and combination of pageantry and politicking can be a sticky prospect. But Mark Rosenblatt’s sprightly, intelligent production tackles it with relish… Rosenblatt and his fine cast emphasise the characters’ self-deception as they pursue what they want: Miranda Raison’s demure, but shrewd Anne Boleyn protesting that she would not want to be queen; Dominic Rowan’s impetuous, moody Henry arguing that it is “conscience” that drives him to divorce. And characters grow in stature when their star has fallen: the Duke of Buckingham, the rejected queen (a touchingly dignified Kate Duchêne) and even Cardinal Wolsey deliver moving speeches once they have been cast down. It still stalls in places and it won’t make the case for the play as a regular fixture. But this intelligent staging might ensure that it is not 397 years before it is staged here again.”
Dominic Maxwell in The Times(four stars) – “I’ve rarely seen the Globe’s space used better than this. The designer Angela Davies rises to the challenge of a pageantry-rich play with aplomb. A red carpet runs round the rim of the stage; characters, in colourful period costume, share their thoughts on the thrust stage. It’s imposing but intimate... Vulnerable moments shine out through the power play. Miranda Raison’s quiet, alluring Anne Boleyn failing to meet Katherine’s eye. Ian McNeice finally finding humility, though not self-pity, as his Cardinal Wolsey loses power. Rosenblatt’s biggest innovation is a ghostly little puppet that represents the male heir that Henry lacks. It lends an air of longing to all his manouevring… There is strong comic playing from Amanda Lawrence, Michael Bertenshaw and Sam Cox, but the wit never overwhelms. Yes, the episodic structure remains a frustration. Yet Rosenblatt makes it a fascinating journey throughout.”
It somehow seems appropriate that the Globe's production of one of Shakespeare's final plays takes place as the new government takes a scalpel to vast areas of public spending. Public extravagance (and the means to pay) is a central theme of Henry VIII.
Of course, the main theme of the play concerns the power struggle as Henry tries to divorce his first wife Katherine in his desperate quest for a male heir. Although it was written in the reign of James VI, the not-so subtle subtext of the piece is Shakespeare’s own homage to Queen Elizabeth, as exemplified by Cranmer’s prophetic speech at the end. The joint authorship of the piece by Shakespeare and John Fletcher is probably another reason for the patchiness of the plot – it certainly lacks the flow of the earlier history plays.
There’s plenty of pageantry and much attention to detail: director Mark Rosenblatt and designer Angela Davies draw heavily on representations of this period – Holbein's famous picture of the ambassadors must have been a major influence and at the end Dominic Rowan's Henry stands, legs defiant, in the mirror image of Holbein's even more famous portrait.
Structurally, the play is very much a succession of historical vignettes; there’s little of the character development of some of the earlier histories. And Rosenblatt has made the reasonable decision to concentrate on the spectacle.
What’s lacking is the humanity of Katherine, Henry’s discarded queen. One of the most sympathetic characters in the piece, Kate Duchene’s rather bizarre accent detracts from her plight and her unrestrained screaming in her final scene seems to have come more from a horror movie than a historical drama.
Rowan's Henry exudes masculinity and playfulness – we first glimpse him playing tennis. It’s a surprisingly human portrait, there's little sign of the cruelty and brutality that characterised the latter part of his reign. It’s a touching portrayal of man, still half in love with his wife, yet also torn between lust for Anne Boleyn and his need to produce a male heir.
There are some strong supporting performances: there's an affecting Buckingham from Anthony Howell going to his death with grace, a manipulative Wolsey from Ian McNeice, calmly accepting his downfall, while much of the laughs are from Michael Bertenshaw’s camp Thomas Lovell.
There’s some stirring music from Nigel Hess, but that only seeks to mask the holes in this drama. It’s interesting to see the play return to its spiritual home – it was during a performance of the play that the original theatre was destroyed by fire – but this play is rarely performed for a reason.
This is a bit of an odd one, clearly owing much more to John Fletcher than Shakespeare. Perhaps it's because the story has been told so often that the play fails to fully satisfy and also because the focus is more on the likes of Wolsey, Cranmer, Buckingham and Queen Catherine. Frankly the acting of some of the supposedly minor characters is better than the main protagonists. Dominic Rowan, normally so impressive, fails to provide a fully formed Henry and Miranda Raisin has almost nothing to do as Anne Bullen (Boleyn) except look beautiful, which she manages very well. She is also given a more realistic dark wig in contrast to the blonde Anne in Howard Brenton's play which now looks even more like a love letter to Anne. At the end Cranmer gives a speech foretelling a golden future for the infant Elizabeth and it becomes obvious that the play is really a piece of propaganda for the former Tudor Queen without too much awkward stuff about her infamous mother or tyrant father. The Globe's production provides plenty of spectacle but Henry VIII is definitely the lesser light of the history plays. - David Baxter
03 Aug 10
This isn’t a particularly good Shakespeare play. It was his last, may have been written with John Fletcher and it’s really just a slice of history with some pageantry and a prophetic / sycophantic ending. It’s rarely performed and the Globe is a great place to see it. The play covers the period from the last years of his marriage to Katherine of Aragon through to the birth of Elizabeth I soon after his next marriage to Anne Boleyn. No executions (you have to go to the National for those) but you do get a coronation and a christening! You also get a historically accurate game of real tennis (squash), the demise of a corrupt and manipulative cardinal (you don’t get that in 2010!) and a rather drawn out death scene during which one is sorely tempted to shout ‘get on with it’. Apart from the royals themselves, there are other’s we know from our history - Cardinal Wolseley, Thomas Cromwell and Thomas Cranmer. It ends by telling you how good the newly christened Elizabeth is going be as queen – from the point in history when the play ends, it’s prophetic but from the point when it was written (she had already reigned) sycophantic. Mark Rosenblatt’s production is very good, bringing out the best of the play. It plays the humour and pagentry well and there are terrific costumes (acres of silk, satin and taffeta and lots of ermine!) by designer Angela Davies, great music (Nigel Hess) and some fine performances. Henry is presented as a bit of a good guy (for a man whose main claim to fame is despatching wives in significant numbers) and Dominic Rowan plays him well, far from the fat king stereotype. Kate Duchene plays Katherine as a histrionic Spaniard complete with accented English. Miranda Raison (the lovely Jo from Spooks, almost unrecognisable as a long-haired brunette) is a very good Anne, though occasionally upstaged by Amanda Lawrence’s terrific lady-in-waiting (doubling up as an equally terrific fool). Ian McNeice is perfect as the baddie Wolsey. It took a while to forget all of his turns as the Stratford East panto baddie before one could appreciate Michael Bertenshaw’s deliciously funny Lovell and Porter (and rather more serious Cardinal Campeius). It might be a long way from being the best of Shakespeare, but it’s one of my most enjoyable visits to the Globe. - Gareth James
A rebuild of Shakespeare's original Globe theatre close to the original site. Society of London Theatre member. Note: Booking opened March 3rd 1996. Tickets for performances range from £5 (standing in the yard) to £37.50 for the best gallery seats). Induction loop facilities. Wheelchair facilities. Extensive education programme. Restaurant, cafe and bar. Dark during the winter but the museum and venue remain open. One of the few London venues with Sunday performances. The Globe Theatre Season runs from April to October. The Globe Education Centre is located in Park Street and runs an educational autumn season.
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