Henry VIII (play)
|
|
Henry VIII (1613) was one of William Shakespeare's last plays. An alternative title, All is True is recorded in contemporary documents, and the title Henry VIII does not appear until its publication in the First Folio of 1623. Stylistic evidence indicates that the play was written by Shakespeare in collaboration with his successor, John Fletcher. During one of the first performances, in 1613, a cannon shot used for special effects ignited the thatched roof of the Globe Theatre in London, burning down the original building.
| Contents |
Subject matter
The play depicts the relationship between Henry VIII of England, Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, and Cardinal Wolsey. One of its most famous lines is Anne Boleyn's reflection that "'Tis better to be lowly born [...] / Than to be perk'd up in a glistering grief, / And wear a golden sorrow" (II.iii).
Date
Henry VIII is one of the few plays by Shakespeare that can be very precisely dated, because the fire that destroyed the Globe theatre is described in several contemporary documents. They confirm that the fire took place on June 29, 1613, and that it the play was then new (one report states that it "had been acted not passing 2 or 3 times before").
Stage History
In the nineteenth century, Henry VIII was one of Shakespeare's most popular plays. Productions typically included enormous and spectacular reconstructions of moments from Henry's reign, using the full resources of the Victorian theatre. Since the nineteenth century, however, the play has fallen from favour, and productions of it are extremely rare. The positive critical response to a recent production by the Royal Shakespeare Company indicates however, that the play may be more stageworthy than its current reputation suggests.
References
- Gordon McMullan, ed. King Henry VIII. The Arden Shakespeare. London: Thomson, 2000.
External links
- King Henry the Eight (http://www.gutenberg.net/etext/2258) - plain vanilla text from Project Gutenberg
- The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight (http://william-shakespeare.classic-literature.co.uk/the-famous-history-of-the-life-of-king-henry-the-eight/) - HTML version of this title.