What you need to knowThe Royal Shakespeare Company's dramatisations of Hilary Mantel's Man Booker Prize winning novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies have won over the critics. The best-selling novels were adapted for the stage into two three-hour plays by Mike Poulton.
Set in England Tudor England, the story follows King Henry VIII, who is desperate for a male heir and petitions Cardinal Wolsey to persuade the Pope to grant him an annulment so he may remarry. Commoner and master-politician Thomas Cromwell sets out to help the King, while ruthlessly pursuing his own agenda.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
What the critics like"Transferring a winning novel to stage is difficult, but doing it with two - and succeeding - is a special feat," says Michael Billington in The Guardian. Poulton has done an outstanding job in turning the books into two epic three-hour plays that make for a gripping piece of narrative theatre and an exhilarating experience.
This Tudor double-bill is "splendidly entertaining and at times deeply touching", says Charles Spencer in the Daily Telegraph. Herrin's fleet staging grips throughout, and the destruction of Anne Boleyn in the second play proves splendidly dark and gripping.
It is a superb, "groaning banquet of political shenanigans and deadly intrigue", says Quentin Letts in the Daily Mail. This gripping, brutal tale has medieval plague and religious superstition, sex, sybaritic greed, and enough little daubs of cheek and gossip to show us that human nature has not much altered.
What they don't likeThe first show (Wolf Hall) is a triumph; the second is "a notch less compelling", says Dominic Maxwell in The Times. Bring Up the Bodies is a quieter, more sombre show that loses its dramatic grip now and then, but this double-bill remains a bold, unforgettable lesson in history and politics.
-
Mermaiding: the underwater subculture on the riseUnder the Radar Cosplay meets fitness in an escapist fin-omenon that's making waves around the world
-
Delhi's dogs earn Supreme Court reprieveIN THE SPOTLIGHT After an outcry from the public and animal rights activists, India's Supreme Court walks back a controversial plan to round the city's stray dog population into shelters
-
8 hotels with ace tennis courtsThe Week Recommends Bring your A game
-
Friendship: 'bromance' comedy starring Paul Rudd and Tim RobinsonThe Week Recommends 'Lampooning and embracing' middle-aged male loneliness, this film is 'enjoyable and funny'
-
The Count of Monte Cristo review: 'indecently spectacular' adaptationThe Week Recommends Dumas's classic 19th-century novel is once again given new life in this 'fast-moving' film
-
Death of England: Closing Time review – 'bold, brash reflection on racism'The Week Recommends The final part of this trilogy deftly explores rising political tensions across the country
-
Sing Sing review: prison drama bursts with 'charm, energy and optimism'The Week Recommends Colman Domingo plays a real-life prisoner in a performance likely to be an Oscars shoo-in
-
Kaos review: comic retelling of Greek mythology starring Jeff GoldblumThe Week Recommends The new series captures audiences as it 'never takes itself too seriously'
-
Blink Twice review: a 'stylish and savage' black comedy thrillerThe Week Recommends Channing Tatum and Naomi Ackie stun in this film on the hedonistic rich directed by Zoë Kravitz
-
Shifters review: 'beautiful' new romantic comedy offers 'bittersweet tenderness'The Week Recommends The 'inventive, emotionally astute writing' leaves audiences gripped throughout
-
How to do F1: British Grand Prix 2025The Week Recommends One of the biggest events of the motorsports calendar is back and better than ever
