The Last Wife

Described on Sunday October 16, 2016 at 2 pm at the Belfry Theatre, 1291 Gladstone Avenue in Victoria | 250-385-6815 | Map

Tickets are $24.68 for VocalEye users plus a 25% discount for a companion, while they last. Please call 250-385-6815 to purchase.

This performance will be followed by a Touch Tour.

Theatre Buddies are available to guide adult VocalEye members with vision loss, 18 years of age and older, who are travelling on their own. This service is generously provided by members of the Victoria Society for Blind Arts and Culture. Please contact Linda Bartram at 250-595-5888. Deadline to reserve a Buddy is the Friday before the described performance.

Described by Rick Waines.


This contemporary re-imagining of the compelling relationship between Henry the Eighth and his last wife, Katherine Parr, is a witty and powerful examination of sexual politics and women’s rights. It’s a dangerous game of chess, with Henry’s offspring, Mary, Elizabeth, and Edward as pawns.

Written by Kate Hennig
Directed by Esther Jun

CHARACTERS

Henry
Kate
Thomas
Mary, Bess and Edward are Henry’s children

REVIEWS

The Last Wife is an audacious, clever play. Hennig’s drama with comic touches catapults Catherine (dubbed Kate), Elizabeth (dubbed Bess), Mary and Henry into a modern setting. So don’t go expecting a traditional period entertainment with Tudor costumes à la A Man for All Seasons. Kate (Celine Stubel) is portrayed as a take-no-guff proto-feminist so brilliant and politically astute, Henry seems like a dancing bear by comparison. She’s the full deal: a sexy, feisty woman in cocktail dresses who juggles a lover on the side.”Times Colonist

“When Katherine meets Henry for the first time, the notorious monarch, Henry VIII, has already married five times, having executed two of those wives and divorced two others. He is chauvinistic, flamboyant, and, in this version of events, not the aged and infirm lump commonly portrayed by historical accounts, but an active, if wounded, older man who is still thoroughly dangerous and unpredictable. Add Henry’s existing offspring (Mary, Elizabeth and Edward) to the story and an intriguing mix of character and circumstance take the audience on an exhilarating ride through one of history’s most fascinating periods.”Victoria News

SUPPORT MATERIALS

The Last Wife – scenes from the show (video)

VocalEye at the Belfry