{"id":3735,"date":"2014-11-03T07:34:37","date_gmt":"2014-11-03T12:34:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=3735"},"modified":"2015-01-03T07:36:27","modified_gmt":"2015-01-03T12:36:27","slug":"henry-viii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=3735","title":{"rendered":"Henry VIII"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Henry<\/a>

(photo: wikimedia.org)<\/p><\/div>\n

Shakespeare\u2019s Henry VIII, a wildly popular play up until the 1800\u2019s, is rarely performed today. Surely not because we like our history delivered with somewhat more accuracy, and surely not because producers are unable to cut its approximately six-hour running time down to a more manageable two-and-a-quarter, as the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey<\/a> has done in its current, excellent production. The prologue includes a bit of optimistic false advertising in that regard:<\/p>\n

Those that come to see
\nOnly a show or two, and so agree
\nThe play may pass, if they be still and willing,
\nI\u2019ll undertake may see away their shilling
\nRichly in two short hours<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Today, the play is probably best known for a mishap during a 1613 performance, in which the play\u2019s cannonfire set afire the thatched roof of Shakespeare\u2019s Globe Theatre, which burned to the ground.<\/p>\n

Twenty-four pivotal years are condensed in the play\u2019s action, which covers the early days of Henry\u2019s marriage to Catherine of Aragon<\/a> up to and including his infatuation and marriage with Anne Bullen (Boleyn) and birth of their daughter, Elizabeth. The end of the play is a long forward-looking tribute to the future of baby Elizabeth, anticipating a glorious era, her father\u2019s legacy.<\/p>\n

Although most modern dramatizations of Henry\u2019s life linger on the problem of the six wives, the period of the play is much more interesting for the conflicts between Henry and the Pope and his agent in England, Cardinal Wolsey (subject of Hilary Mantel\u2019s award winning Wolf Hall<\/em> and Bring Up the Bodies<\/em>). Although the conflict came to a head over Henry\u2019s wish for annulment of his marriage to Catherine that would free him to marry Anne, it was fed by Henry\u2019s desire to acquire the massive wealth and property owned by the country\u2019s hundreds of churches, monasteries, church schools, priories, convents, and other religious entities. His break with Rome led, of course, to formation of the Church of England with him at its head and turned that country from a Catholic to a Protestant one\u2014a course his daughter Elizabeth vigorously pursued in her long reign.<\/p>\n

The STNJ production is brilliantly acted, with special praise going to Philip Goodwin, who inhabits the role of Cardinal Wolsey like a second skin, David Foubert\u2019s King Henry, and Jessica Wortham\u2019s Queen Catherine. The \u201cjust enough\u201d set design offers plenty of flexibility and space for the action, allowing large groups of the cast of 15 to be comfortably on stage at once, including for some period dance scenes (Henry was a fair composer). The costume design is spectacular.<\/p>\n

I wondered at the drawing on the cover of the playbill of the baby wearing Henry\u2019s locket only to realize that in this play, the baby is much the point.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shakespeare\u2019s Henry VIII, a wildly popular play up until the 1800\u2019s, is rarely performed today. Surely not because we like our history delivered with somewhat more accuracy, and surely not because producers are unable to cut its approximately six-hour running … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Henry VIII","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[104,147],"tags":[128,197],"class_list":["post-3735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-morgue","category-theater","tag-history","tag-shakespeare"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-Yf","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3735"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3736,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3735\/revisions\/3736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}