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Miranda Raison (Anne Boleyn) and Kate Duchêne (Katharine). Photo: John Tramper

Miranda Raison (Anne Boleyn) and Dominic Rowan (Henry VIII). Photo: John Tramper

Miranda Raison (Anne Boleyn) and Dominic Rowan (Henry VIII). Photo: John Tramper

Ian McNeice (Cardinal Wolsey). Photo: John Tramper

Anthony Howell (Duke of Buckingham). Photo: John Tramper

Miranda Raison (Anne Boleyn). Photo: John Tramper

directed by Mark Rosenblatt

The Tudor Court is locked in a power struggle between its nobles and the Machiavellian Cardinal Wolsey, the King's first minister and the most conspicuous symbol of Catholic power in the land. Wolsey's ambition knows no bounds and when his chief ally, Queen Katherine, interferes in the King's romance with Ann Bullen, he brings gigantic ruin upon himself, the Queen and centuries of English obedience to Rome.

Famous in its own day as Shakespeare's most sumptuous and spectacular play, Henry VIII is a gorgeous pageant of masques and royal ceremony; a blaze of fireworks, cannonfire, red satin and cloth-of-gold. But within the passages of grandeur works the mind of the mature Shakespeare: psychological and political insight, language of great depth and power and, in the figures of Wolsey and Katherine, two of his most vivid and memorable characters.

Creative Team

Director:Mark Rosenblatt
Designer: Angela Davies
Composer: Nigel Hess

Cast

Michael Bertenshaw - Campeius
Sam Cox - Lord Chamberlain
John Cummins - Thomas Cromwell
Ben Deery - Abergavenny
Mary Doherty - Patience
John Dougall - Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester
Kate Duchêne - Queen Katherine
Will Featherstone - Earl of Surrey
Peter Hamilton Dyer - Duke of Norfolk
Anthony Howell - Duke of Buckingham/Lord Chancellor
Colin Hurley - Thomas Cranmer
Amanda Lawrence - Old Lady
Ian McNeice - Cardinal Wolsey
Miranda Raison - Ann Bullen
Dominic Rowan - Henry VIII
Dickon Tyrrell - Duke of Suffolk

Discover the play

• *NEW*  Podcast: Prof Gordon McMullan provides an introduction to the colourful history of Henry VIII, and how it challenges preconceptions about genre, collaboration and late plays.

Just Opinions

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Henry VIII, 3.1.63-64

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