Performance Henry VIII (play)

john lowin, possibly first actor play henry

henry viii believed have been first performed part of ceremonies celebrating marriage of princess elizabeth in 1612–1613, although first recorded performance on 29 june 1613. performance noteworthy because of fire destroyed globe theatre during performance, described in several contemporary documents. these confirm fire took place on date. 1 reported tradition associated play involves john downes, promptor of duke of york s company 1662 1706. in roscius anglicanus (1708), downes claims role of henry viii in play performed john lowin, had instructions mr. shakespeare himself.

fifteen years day after fire, on 29 june 1628, king s men performed play again @ globe. performance witnessed george villiers, contemporary duke of buckingham (no relation or descendant duke of buckingham portrayed in play) left halfway through once play s duke of buckingham executed. (a month later, villiers assassinated.)

during restoration era, sir william davenant staged production, starring thomas betterton, seen pepys. thomas betterton played henry in 1664, , colley cibber revived in 1720s. subsequent stagings of play david garrick, charles kean, henry irving (who chose play wolsey, villain , perhaps showier role of play, in 1888, ellen terry noble katherine of aragon). longest broadway run play has had herbert beerbohm tree s 1916 production in lyn harding played henry , tree played wolsey, running 63 performances. tree s production notable elaborate exploitation of play s pageantry, typical of expensive , spectacular staging of era.

modern revivals

the play s popularity has waned in mid twentieth century, although charles laughton played henry @ sadler s wells theatre in 1933 , margaret webster directed inaugural production of american repertory company on broadway in 1946 walter hampden wolsey , eva le gallienne katherine. john gielgud played wolsey, harry andrews king , edith evans katharine @ stratford in 1959.

another notable production first @ reconstructed shakespeare s globe 15 may 21 august 2010, part of theatre s first season of shakespeare s history plays, cannon fire @ same point 1613 production , cast including dominic rowan henry, miranda raison anne, ian mcneice wolsey , kate duchêne katherine (with raison playing anne in same season s anne boleyn). staged @ folger shakespeare theatre (washington, d.c.) 12 october until 28 november 2010; production added puppeter-narrator, played louis butelli, named henry viii s jester, sommers, character of mary i, played megan steigerwald. remount of production played @ alabama shakespeare festival in 2012.

in july 2013, hudson shakespeare company of new jersey mounted production part of annual shakespeare in parks series. while director jon ciccarelli set production in tudor period, adapted script provide more modern spin wives fleshing out role of anne bullen , stressing plight of queen katherine of aragon. katherine (noelle fair) spoke play s prologue , anne (emily ludolph) spoke epilogue, having wives bookend play. in original play text, anne presented passive, divine figure great events happen around , , katherine never meet. here, given more lines, spoke gentleman commenting on buckingham execution give character more of presence in show. production introduced several dumb shows, set period music, showing development of henry , anne s relationship , distancing katherine. anne made 1 of katherine s waiting women led minor tense stand off scene song given minor character sung anne in front of enraged queen katherine.