The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
    • Shows & On demand
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureTheatre

Henry VI at Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

Henry VI at Sam Wanamaker Playhouse | Theatre review
22 November 2019
Marissa Khaos
Avatar
Marissa Khaos
22 November 2019

Henry VI (Jonathan Broadbent) is a gentle king whose frailty provokes concerns about his suitability to rule England. The throne is a burden he did not choose; nor can he relieve himself of it, for hungry snakes lurk in its shadow awaiting his fall. Heavy as his role may be, Henry is also a good king and thus cannot allow his kingdom to be ruled by treacherous, sinister and self-serving men in his stead. Such is the tale of woe, pity, deception, and a sepulchral, bestial lust for power that Shakespeare conceived, under the restrictions imposed upon him by a monarchy whose image had to be carefully carved.

Sean Holmes and Ilinca Radulian’s production Henry VI – which merges Shakespeare’s three-part play into one –does not suffer the same restrictions and can therefore explore anarchic alternatives to the “good king bad king” plot and the same old tedious tales of the nobility. Here is a king who has been crudely cast into the shadow of the might, resilience, cunning and dramatic prowess of Queen Margaret (Steffan Donnelly). Donnelly is fierce, feisty, funny, captivating, and, quite simply – alongside Sarah Amankwah as  Eleanor, Cade and Edward – a joy to watch at the small Sam Wanamaker stage. While the show is delightfully insidious, with its many twists, gender-mixing and playfulness, Donnelly and Amankwah run a mile ahead with their mesmerising and absolutely spectacular delivery.

Grace Smart’s set design blurs the lines between tragedy and comedy, and Emily Adamson’s costume design brings an almost Orwellian feeling – complete with animal masquerades – to the people’s resistance that gives voice to those outside the confines of the court and the troubles of the nobility.  

York (Colin Hurley) and his children, Edward (Amankwah), Richard (Sophie Russell), and George (John Lightbody), are exciting rivals for the fearsome queen, whose affair with Suffolk (Nina Bowers) is deliciously daring, breathing fresh fire onto the aged embers of Shakespeare’s tale of politics, war and games of the throne. Though at times a little too loud as characters shout indecipherably over one another, Henry VI is fun, funny and hugely successful.

★★★★★

Marissa Khaos
Photos: Marc Brenner

Henry VI is at Sam Wanamaker Playhouse from 30th November until 26th January 2020. For further information or to book visit the theatre’s website here.

Related Itemsreview

More in Theatre

Swimming Home: An immersive online experience

★★★★★
Selina Begum
Read More

Live Lab at The Yard Theatre: An interview with associate director Cheryl Gallagher

Mersa Auda
Read More

We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online

★★★★★
Samuel Nicholls
Read More

We Ask These Questions of Everybody: An interview with Amble Skuse and Toria Banks

Mersa Auda
Read More

Public Domain at Southwark Playhouse

★★★★★
Michael Higgs
Read More

Unlimited Festival at the Southbank Centre: Centre stage for diversity

★★★★★
James Humphrey
Read More

RSC Next Generation: Young Bloods proves Shakespeare is timeless

Brooke Snowe
Read More

An interview with Ifrah Ismael: Tales from the Front Line and other stories

Selina Begum
Read More

A Livestream with David Bedella at Crazy Coqs Online

★★★★★
Regan Harle
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Theatre review

Marissa Khaos

Henry VI

★★★★★

Dates

30th November 2019 - 26th January 2020

Price

From £10

Links & directions

TwitterInstagramFacebookWebsiteMap

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • We Ask These Questions of Everybody: An interview with Amble Skuse and Toria Banks
    Theatre
  • Start the year right with these eco-friendly vegan and vegetarian food deliveries
    Food & Drinks
  • Hello Cosmos – Dream Harder
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Assassins: Exclusive new clip
    Cinema
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Uncategorised
  • Away: An interview with animator Gints Zilbalodis
    Interviews
  • The Queen of Black Magic
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Uncategorised
  • Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • WandaVision: Marvel’s charming sitcom proves an astounding success
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Iggy Pop reaffirms his legendary status with an entrancing set at the Barbican | Live review
Kwānt in Mayfair: Enchanting like Aladdin’s cave | Bar review