Wolf Hall: Parts 1 & 2 are adapted by Mike Poulton from Hilary Mantel's double Man Booker Prize winning novels, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies (published Henry Holt in the U.S.). The plays are based on the deceit, betrayal, and intrigue of the court of Henry VIII. The production features a company of more than twenty actors, headed by Ben Miles as Thomas Cromwell, Lydia Leonard as Anne Boleyn, and Nathaniel Parker as King Henry VIII, all under the direction of Olivier Award nominee Jeremy Herrin, who makes his New York City directing debut. The Royal Shakespeare Company is appearing with the permission of Actors' Equity Association.
The stage version...is strictly for fun. That may sound like a weak recommendation to those who wear their brows high. But being fun in period costume for nearly five-and-a-half hours of live theater is no mean achievement...But it's also because Mr. Herrin and Mr. Poulton craftily use the narrative urgency and immediacy of live theater to turn audiences into pleasurably guilty confidants. Spun as a bright web of tittle-tattle, 'Wolf Hall' pours secrets of states and of stately boudoirs into your ears, while reminding you that well-wielded gossip can be a potent (and potentially lethal) political weapon...Working with a vast cast of characters (embodied by a protean ensemble of almost two dozen) and covering many convolutions of plot, history, law and sexual practices, 'Wolf Hall' nonetheless gives the impression of always traveling light...Both staging and script use a galleon-load of hoary theatrical tools and tricks to keep us hooked, in ways that are as effective as they are shameless.
The acting is led by an indefatigable Ben Miles, whose Cromwell is watchful, patient and sardonic. We watch him maneuver through the alliances and court, protecting his king with skillful manipulations and even what could be considered inchoate press releases. Nathaniel Parker as Henry VIII is riveting, at times needy or smitten and at others very, very dangerous. Lydia Leonard plays her Boleyn as entitled and arrogant, making her fall all that more painful. Directed with blistering pace and guile by Jeremy Herrin, the Cromwell that emerges from these plays is less Machiavellian and more, well, superhero...The first part comes close to being force-fed history like a goose -- but in a good way -- via 30 scenes that change in a blink of an eye...In the second play, things slow down to a steady boil and Cromwell begins the tricky task of becoming a detective, gathering evidence to convict the queen...One part alone stands by itself but this adaptation is like a bag of chips. Can you stop with just one?
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