What I liked
I really really enjoyed the women’s performances. They truly embraced the characters that were written for them and the conceptualized reputations they have in modern day. Especially those wives who many people don’t know much about. Anne of Cleves was absolutely intriguing for me because history doesn’t talk about her all too much. This goes for Catherine Howard, Jane, and Catherine parr as well. i would love to see Jane and Anne B hash things out or Howard and Cleves make jokes together. Because I saw these relationships happening through small actions in the background and I would love to see more of that. This leads into what I feel could be improved about it.
What I didn't like
While the play was enjoyable to watch initially, it becomes apparent after thinking about the play a bit, it needs to be rewritten quite a bit if it wants the label of a"feminist" “girl power” play. The play is still all about Henry. He’s the one always present and he always seems to have the power even though its the wives world. I would be way more interested in seeing a play where the wives interacted in this world and had the control to either physically or audibly shut him up. And while the direction did what it could with the script, it should have had a female director. It was very obvious men wrote and directed this play. I wanted to hear female voices. The playwright needs a female dramaturg to really try and incorporate that because it was almost offensive to be watching this “female empowering” play that was completely controlled by the male gaze. Anne B and Catherine of Aragon seemed to have more fleshed out roles script wise but the other women aren’t given much to work with so I truly commend them. Maybe They need to be given scenes with each other so their actions aren’t only defined by Henry’s presence. So overall, I think the playwright/Henry really needs to focus on the women of the play while moving forward with it because it’s very obvious it’s all about him. There’s not one part of this play that could pass the bechdel test and as a “feminist play”, that’s a serious problem.
Also, side note. Heard some inconsistencies in the tones of language. Henry had some very modern sounding moments where the wives had none. So those modern moments became jarring and odd.
My overall impression
So sorry for the delayed review. I saw this play about a month ago, but some thoughts were still coming to me so I thought I’d put them out there.
