Henry VIII

Folger Theatre

Washington, D.C.

(202) 544-7077

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“Little about Henry VIII qualifies as essential Shakespeare,” said Peter Marks in The Washington Post. Concerns about the play’s authorship as well as its “stodgy verbiage” have essentially consigned the play to second-tier status. But when an esteemed theater mounts a version of Henry VIII that’s this “sturdily acted” and “becomingly visual,” attention must be paid. Worrying little about which lines Shakespeare wrote and which he may have farmed out to fellow playwright John Fletcher, director Robert Richmond has “trimmed away some of the pomp” and excess speechifying to create a nimbler staging. He’s also taken the liberty of inventing a new character, Henry’s court jester, “Will S.,” to provide side commentary using “hand-puppet versions of the royal characters.” That bold move only sometimes works.

Yet “when a rarity gets staged with this much panache, it’s pretty much must-see theater,” said Trey Graham in the Washington City Paper. Ian Merrill Peakes anchors the production as Henry, the king “whose need for an heir” from wife Katherine is complicated by his lust for lady-in-waiting Anne Boleyn. The play is very much “Katherine’s tragedy,” and Naomi Jacobson rises to the occasion with a “downright thrilling” performance as the spurned queen. Supporting performances are across-the-board solid, from Anthony Cochrane’s scheming Cardinal Wolsey to Louis Butelli’s impish jester. In the closing moments, when Henry presents “a swaddled infant to the people,” an heir who bears the name Elizabeth, you know you’re viewing political theater, 17th-century style. But the moment is “electrifying” anyway.