Henry VIII

by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher

Shakespeare's Globe, London

Back at the Globe after a decade! Glad to finally tick off the rarely-performed Henry VIII, a play co-written by Shakespeare and John Fletcher which, in Amy Hodge's colourful production, is given a further reworking by Hannah Khalil.

The essence of the story is much the same: King Henry VIII desperately wants a male heir and tires of his first wife Katherine who cannot give him one. Cardinal Wolsey grows in power and influence in the court while the seductive Anne Bullen (Boleyn) catches the eye of the King.

What Khalil does is to give the play a rich feminist retelling where the voices of all the women in the life of this formidable monarch get amplified. In addition to Katherine and Anne, we see a lot more of Henry's estranged daughter Mary and even make space for the heir he never wanted but who ruled the land for decades after him: Elizabeth. Being a pastiche, it doesn't have the dramatic sweep and smoothness of Shakespeare's other plays but for those familiar with the story, it's certainly very watchable.

The text is accompanied by fantastic live music and includes popular lines drawn from the Bard's canon (it's quite fun spotting them!) while an animated cast have fun with lurid visual gags. It is perhaps hardly an issue that Adam Gillen, who plays Henry VIII, was indisposed on the night of my performance resulting in his lines being read by another member of the company: he's little more than a petulant figurehead hovering in the background here.

On a side note, the views from the Middle Gallery are excellent and allow one to fully appreciate the action on stage. I highly recommend going for these if you're exploring tickets in the future.

The Crystalwords score: 3/5