HENRY VIII (Globe Theatre)****

 

By Cal

Link: https://globeplayer.tv/videos/henry-viii £11.99 to buy or send as a gift, £5.99 to rent

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Henry VIII isn’t one of the most popular Shakespeare plays. It wasn’t entirely written by Shakespeare, which puts a lot of people off. Shakespeare also doesn’t give us the full story - it ends with Henry being happy with one of his wives and we all know exactly how long that lasts. Henry also doesn’t have the fun of attempting to get rid of other people or the agony of other people attempting to get rid of him.

But I really enjoy this play. I don’t think it matters that the play doesn’t tell us the full story of Henry – we don’t get the full story of all the other Kings and why should Henry VIII be any different? There’s nothing wrong with a happy ending every now and then and the moment probably wasn’t false at all at the time. Henry didn’t know at that point that Anne would cause so many difficulties or that he’d end up developing feelings for her maid. And I think the story is dramatic. Not much directly happens to Henry, but there’s a lot going on around him.

This is a great production. Director Mark Rosenblatt has found tragedy and humour in the play. The downfall of the Duke of Buckingham and divorce of Queen Katharine are both really emotional moments but there is also humour throughout the story. Dickon Tyrrell’s Duke of Suffolk was hilariously irreverent, especially as I had a geographical instinct to compare him with Peter Hamilton Dyer’s much more upright Duke of Norfolk. Of course, part of the reason this is so effective is that the actors are so good, but you can only do what your director lets you. (Well… usually.)

The set is very interesting. It’s usual in Globe productions to have some sort of extension from the main stage, stretching out through the audience, and Angela Davies’ set has an extension through the middle, almost as far as the entrance to the auditorium. It looks very striking and it’s great for making a grand entrance, but it’s so long, the characters who entered by this route come onstage quite a while before their official entrance. If they hadn’t, they’d never have reached the other actors in time to say their line. It might not be quite so noticeable when you’re in the auditorium, but it is a bit distracting when you’re watching it on film.

Dominic Rowan, who was so much fun as Touchstone in As You Like It, is a dignified and stately King, but he shows his human side in his reactions to the dramas that go on around him. The way he treats Katharine is awful, but it’s not that this Henry doesn’t care. He does what he feels he has to do, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy for him. The ending shows another side of him, and at least for me, it’s one of the loveliest endings Shakespeare has written.

As I mentioned earlier, there is a lot of potential for tragedy in what happens to the Duke of Buckingham and Queen Katharine, even when Henry is so unexpectedly likeable. Anthony Howell’s Duke of Buckingham seems like a hot-headed idiot to begin with, but as he realises what’s going to happen to him, the emotion he experiences is palpable.

Kate Duchene is incredibly moving as Queen Katharine, a strong, powerful and intelligent lady who gradually loses everything. She is so different in her final scenes and it really is upsetting to see the change in her. Her nightmare scene is brilliantly done and very creepy.

The replacement wife, Anne Bullen, is a bit of an enigma. Most of the time, Miranda Raison is all wide-eyed innocence as though she can’t really believe what’s happening to her. She seems very sweet. But sometimes, I got the impression of a look of satisfaction on her face. Maybe I was imagining it and there’s nothing in the text to suggest it – Henry wrote this play in tribute to Elizabeth I, so he was hardly going to show her mum in a bad light – but it would be a valid way of interpreting the character.

The main villain of the piece is Cardinal Wolsey and Ian McNeice judges the level of odiousness beautifully – he’s repellent, but not quite to the extent where I can’t stand to watch him. There are also strong performances from Sam Cox as Lord Chamberlain and Will Featherstone as the Earl of Surrey. As there are a lot of characters in this play, the rest of the cast have to play two roles – or three in the case of the very talented Michael Bertenshaw. This works really well as it gives the actors more to do, as well as giving them the chance to show their versatility.

This is a great opportunity to see a staged version of an underrated play. It is available on DVD, but it’s cheaper to buy or rent it from the Globe and they probably need your money more than Amazon.