Finally, Shakespeare's Henry VIII, subtitled "All Is True," is not thought to be entirely written by Shakespeare and has a decidedly uneven script but is fairly accurate history, easily followed, and mostly believable. The excessive praise for the great age heralded by the newborn baby Elizabeth in the finale may sound like fawning flattery for Shakespeare's queen, but the play is thought to have been written a decade after Elizabeth's death. It does have much pageantry and scheming, so it requires a large, gifted cast and an elaborate production.
This one is directed by Stratford's artistic director Richard Monette, and if it hasn't the artistic sheen of Antoni Cimolino's King John, it's a handsome, more entertaining period piece. Ann Curtis' designs are opulent. Monette brings on the dancing girls and bare-chested wrestlers, and solemn processions for constantly arresting stage pictures.
And Seana McKenna as Queen Katherine, Raymond O'Neill as the Duke of Buckingham, Brian Tree as the Archbishop of Canterbury, Chick Reid as a serving woman, and Walter Borden as Cardinal Wolsey (though a bit over the top), are all memorably effective. So is Graham Abbey as an unusually sexy Henry VIII, though he misses absolute command.
