| The Mirror and the Light | |
|---|---|
 Poster for the West End production | |
| Written by | Hilary Mantel (novel and play) Ben Miles (play) |
| Date premiered | 23 September 2021 |
| Place premiered | Gielgud Theatre, London |
| Setting | Sixteenth century England |
The Mirror and the Light is a play by Hilary Mantel and Ben Miles based on Mantel's 2020 book of the same name. It is the third part to Wolf Hall Parts One & Two which is a double-bill play based on Mantel's novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies .
Following the award-winning West End and Broadway productions of Wolf Hall Parts One & Two, the play is produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company (with Playful Productions) and opened in London's West End at the Gielgud Theatre from 23 September running until 28 November 2021. Co-adapter Ben Miles will reprise his role as Thomas Cromwell with Nathaniel Parker reprising his role Henry VIII. The play is directed by Jeremy Herrin, designed by Christopher Oram with music by Stephen Warbeck. [1] [2] On 22 July 2021 further casting was announced. [3]
| Character | West End (2021) |
|---|---|
| Thomas Cromwell | Ben Miles |
| King Henry VIII | Nathaniel Parker |
| Anna of Cleves | Rosanna Adams |
| Christophe & Edward Seymour | Paul Adeyefa |
| Princess Mary | Melissa Allan |
| Ensemble | Samuel Awoyo |
| Duke of Suffolk | Nicholas Boulton |
| Elizabeth Seymour | Aurora Dawson-Hunte |
| French Ambassador | Ian Drysdale |
| Ensemble | Mark Extance |
| Lady Rochford / Abness | Jo Herbert |
| Ensemble | Andrew Hodges |
| Ensemble | Niahm James |
| Gregory Cromwell | Terique Jarrett |
| Ralph Sadler | Jordan Kouamé |
| Thomas Wriothesley | Geoffrey Lumb |
| Jane Seymour & Katherine Howard | Olivia Marcus |
| Helen Sadler & Dorothea Wolsey | Umi Myers |
| Eustace Chapuys | Matthew Pidgeon |
| Walter Cromwell / Holbein | Liam Smith |
| Archbishop Cranmer | Giles Taylor |
| Kingston & The Ghost of Wolsey | Tony Turner |
| Richard Riche | Leo Wan |
| Duke of Norfolk | Nicholas Woodeson |
Into the Woods is a 1986 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine.
Jane Seymour was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 30 May 1536 until her death the next year. She became queen following the execution of Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn, who was accused by King Henry VIII of adultery after failing to produce the male heir he so desperately desired. Jane, however, died of postnatal complications less than two weeks after the birth of her only child, the future King Edward VI. She was the only wife of Henry to receive a queen's funeral; and he was later buried alongside her remains in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
Benjamin Charles Miles is an English actor, best known for his starring role as Patrick Maitland in the television comedy Coupling, from 2000 to 2004, as Montague Dartie in The Forsyte Saga, from 2002 to 2003, as propagandist and television executive Roger Dascombe in 2005 film V for Vendetta, as Peter Townsend in the Netflix drama The Crown (2016–2017) and George in episode 8 "The One That Holds Everything" in the TV drama The Romanoffs (2018).
Nathaniel Parker is an English stage and screen actor best known for playing the lead in the BBC crime drama series The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, and Agravaine de Bois in the fourth series of Merlin.
Dame Hilary Mary Mantel was a British writer whose work includes historical fiction, personal memoirs and short stories. Her first published novel, Every Day Is Mother's Day, was released in 1985. She went on to write 12 novels, two collections of short stories, a personal memoir, and numerous articles and opinion pieces.
Mike Poulton is an English writer, translator and adapter of classic plays for contemporary audiences. He received a Tony nomination for his play 'Fortune's Fool' along with his adaptations of 'Wolf Hall' and 'Bring Up the Bodies'.
Henry VIII and his reign have frequently been depicted in art, film, literature, music, opera, plays, and television.
Mary I of England has been depicted in popular culture a number of times.
Lydia Leonard is a British stage, film and television actress, best known for her roles in the theatrical adaptation of Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies and the television series Ten Percent, and The Crown.
Wolf Hall is a 2009 historical novel by English author Hilary Mantel, published by Fourth Estate, named after the Seymour family's seat of Wolfhall, or Wulfhall, in Wiltshire. Set in the period from 1500 to 1535, Wolf Hall is a sympathetic fictionalised biography documenting the rapid rise to power of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII through to the death of Sir Thomas More. The novel won both the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 2012, The Observer named it as one of "The 10 best historical novels".
Jeremy Herrin is an English theatre director. He is one of the founding directors of Second Half Productions.
Bring Up the Bodies is an historical novel by Hilary Mantel, sequel to the award-winning Wolf Hall (2009), and part of a trilogy charting the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell, the powerful minister in the court of King Henry VIII. It won the 2012 Man Booker Prize and the 2012 Costa Book of the Year. The final novel in the trilogy is The Mirror & the Light (2020).
The Mirror & the Light is a 2020 historical novel by English writer Hilary Mantel and the final novel published in her lifetime, appearing two and a half years before her death. Following Wolf Hall (2009) and Bring Up the Bodies (2012), it is the final instalment in her trilogy charting the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell, minister in the court of King Henry VIII. It covers the last four years of his life, from 1536 until his death by execution in 1540.
Wolf Hall is a British television serial first broadcast on BBC Two in January 2015. The six-part series is an adaptation of two of Hilary Mantel's novels, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, a fictionalised biography documenting the rapid rise to power of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII through to the death of Sir Thomas More, followed by Cromwell's success in freeing the king of his marriage to Anne Boleyn. Wolf Hall was first broadcast in April 2015 in the United States on PBS and in Australia on BBC First. It was reported in 2022 that a second series, covering the final novel in the trilogy, was in pre-production, with Mark Rylance, director Peter Kosminsky, and writer Peter Straughan returning.
Nick Powell is a British musician, composer and sound designer. He has worked extensively in theatre on productions in the West End and on Broadway, and for companies including the Royal National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre of Scotland, the Royal Court Theatre, and the Donmar Warehouse.
Death Note: The Musical is a musical based on the Japanese manga series of the same name by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. The score is by Frank Wildhorn, with lyrics by Jack Murphy and book by Ivan Menchell
The Lehman Trilogy is a three-act play by Italian novelist and playwright Stefano Massini. It follows the lives of three immigrant brothers from when they arrived in America and founded an investment firm through the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. It has been translated into 24 languages, staged by such directors as Luca Ronconi and Sam Mendes, and was later published as a novel in English. An English translation of the play by Mirella Cheeseman was produced at the National Theatre in 2018. The production, featuring three actors and one pianist, was directed by Sam Mendes and included the cast of Simon Russell Beale, Adam Godley and Ben Miles. It earned five Laurence Olivier Award nominations.
Wolf Hall Parts One & Two is a two-part play based on Hilary Mantel's novels Wolf Hall (2009) and Bring Up the Bodies (2013), adapted for the stage by Mike Poulton. Set in the period from 1500 to 1535, Wolf Hall is a sympathetic fictionalised biography documenting the rapid rise to power of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII through to the death of Sir Thomas More.
Thomas Cromwell was Chief Minister to King Henry VIII of England from 1534 to 1540. He played a prominent role in the important events of Henry's reign, including the king's divorce from Catherine of Aragon, the execution of Anne Boleyn, the marriage to Anne of Cleves, the Dissolution of the monasteries, and the English Reformation. These dramatic events have provided the inspiration for plays, novels and films from shortly after his death until modern times.
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light is an upcoming historical drama television series. It is a second adaptation by Peter Straughan of the Wolf Hall novels by Hilary Mantel and covers The Mirror & the Light, the final novel in the trilogy. It has Peter Kosminsky returning to direct, Mark Rylance returning in the lead role of Thomas Cromwell, and Peter Straughan returning to write from the 2015 series Wolf Hall.