Theatre review: Henry VIII (Shakespeare's Globe)

Despite being named after a monarch more famous than any of Shakespeare's other History Plays, Henry VIII has always languished in obscurity - this is only the second time I've seen the play, and I've yet to see any evidence that it deserves better. It's one of the late collaborations with John Fletcher, with all the unevenness that implies, but it's also a play that reflects the way Shakespeare's work tended to bow to the trends of its time, in this case the popularity of big spectacle and pageantry (so much so that it's best known for including the special effect that burned down the original Globe.) It also came a decade after the death of the last Tudor monarch, meaning it was now safe to portray that particular dynasty on stage, while also tapping into nostalgia for Elizabeth I's reign. All solid commercial reasons for creating a show, and the latter element feels topical, seeing it on the Jubilee weekend, but they don't suggest a great play for the ages.

Which explains why the modern Globe felt free to play fast and loose with the text, giving resident playwright Hannah Khalil free rein to restructure and rewrite, to the point where she's credited as the third collaborator. The main part of her remit is to give more voice to the female characters.

She does this by appropriating lines from throughout the rest of the Shakespeare canon to give to all the characters, but particularly the women. Princess Mary (Natasha Cottriall) has no lines in the original* but from a female reading is one of the most crucial perspectives in the story: Its crux is Henry wanting an heir, but of course he's already got one who the audience know would go on to rule the country. What everyone wants is a male heir, which is why she's sidelined, so Khalil gives her the opportunity to watch the action in dismay as her father tries to write her out of history, and respond to it, if only to the audience.

Because the original is built around getting us to the next big procession through the Yard, the story is a pretty patchy account of Henry (Adam Gillen) trying to find a way to annul his marriage to Queen Katharine (Bea Segura.) Cardinal Wolsey (Jamie Ballard) is a critical ally in this, but things sour between them in the second half: Wolsey discovers that, rather than the political match he's had in mind for him, Henry was planning the annulment so he could marry Anne Bullen (Janet Etuk.) More seriously, the King discovers how much money his right-hand man was stealing from him, both for his own use and to send to Rome, and Wolsey is disgraced. There's a hint of the rise of Cromwell (Esmonde Cole) and the loyalty he would keep to his mentor Wolsey, but unless you treat these scenes as a prequel to Wolf Hall they also feel underdeveloped.

Khalil's expansion of the female roles, with Segura's Katharine the one who comes closest to becoming a flesh-and-blood, central character, can only help the text's weaknesses so far. So it's left to Amy Hodge's production to make something of a text that, with most of the processions cut, comes down to a lot of people arguing about the succession. With Gillen playing the title role he's inevitably portrayed as a stroppy man-child, in keeping with his many temper tantrums. He's not the traditional image of the King, although I think we can all imagine Henry VIII sitting on the toilet eating a chicken leg and I'm not even being sarcastic.

In Georgia Lowe's design the only things that matter in Henry's court are money and sex, so the stage is gilded and stacked with gold bars (handy for Wolsey to steal) while the mix of period and modern dress definitely stays period for some of the more ridiculous codpieces. Most of the spectacle the play was written for is gone, but the sexual element is most clearly seen in an a party scene that virtually turns into an orgy, with a gold inflatable cock and balls getting thrust at the groundlings.

Elsewhere, you could argue that Khalil's adaptation of the play was in part to turn it into a musical, and the folky music byTom Deering and Maimuna Memon is probably the most successful part of the evening. Predominantly sung by Genevieve Dawson, with members of the acting company usually joining in, their songs also plunder other Shakespeare works for their lyrics, to my mind more successfully than the ones inserted into the spoken text (Khalil has a tendency to go for very famous lines like "uneasy lies the head that wears a crown," which has a bit of a Greatest Hits feel and took me out of the moment.) They're also more genuinely rousing than the attempts to have the female characters get support from the groundlings; tonight's audience were enthusiastically vocal, but there was still the feel that they were reacting to a call-and-response, rather than genuinely engaging with the character. Although fair enough, it's the first time I've heard an audience call out "yaas, kween!" when the kween in question is Catherine of Aragon.

There are a few moments in Hodge's production that really stand out: It's not subtle, but the moment after Anne Bullen becomes pregnant, when the stage full of blue balloons is overwhelmed by pink ones to Henry's fury, is a memorable one. And there's certainly not the feel of the company having been handed a dud and plodding their way through it, you get a sense of genuine excitement for the play from them. But neither this, nor Khalil's rewrites, can salvage an aimless, meandering and dull play.

Henry VIII by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, adapted by Hannah Khalil, is booking in reportory until the 21st of October at Shakespeare's Globe.

Running time: 2 hours 35 minutes including interval.

Photo credit: Marc Brenner.

*which might be seen as a blessing, given the play's partiality I doubt Shakespeare and Fletcher would have given Bloody Mary an easy ride