Wolf Hall Parts One & Two | |
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Written by | Hilary Mantel (novels) Mike Poulton (play) |
Based on | Wolf Hall Bring Up the Bodies' |
Date premiered | 11 December 2013 |
Place premiered | Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon |
Subject | the rise of Thomas Cromwell |
Setting | Sixteenth century England |
Wolf Hall Parts One & Two (originally titled Wolf Hall&Bring Up The Bodies) 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.
In January 2013, the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) announced that it would stage adaptations by Mike Poulton of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies in its Winter season in the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon beginning previews from 11 December 2013, with press performances on 8 January 2014, running until 29 March. [1] The production transferred to London's Aldwych Theatre from 1 May 2014, for a limited run until 4 October (extended from 6 September due to popular demand). [2]
Producers Jeffrey Richards and Jerry Frankel brought the London productions of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, starring Ben Miles as Thomas Cromwell, Lydia Leonard as Anne Boleyn, Lucy Briers as Katherine of Aragon, and Nathaniel Parker as Henry VIII, to Broadway's Winter Garden Theatre [3] beginning previews from 20 March with an opening night on 9 April 2015, for a 15-week run until 5 July. The double-bill was re-titled Wolf Hall Parts One & Two for American audiences. [4] The play was nominated for 8 Tony Awards, including Best Play.
Character | Royal Shakespeare Company (2013) | West End (2014) | Broadway (2015) |
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Mark Smeaton | Joey Batey | ||
Charles Brandon | Nicholas Boulton | ||
Katherine of Aragon Jane Boleyn | Lucy Briers | ||
Princess Mary Jane Seymour Lady Worcester | Leah Brotherhead | ||
Lizzie Wykys Mary Boleyn Mary Shelton | Olivia Darnley | ||
Thomas Howard | Nicholas Day | ||
Gregory Cromwell | Daniel Fraser | ||
George Boleyn Edward Seymour | Oscar Pearce | Edward Harrison | |
Margery Seymour Lady-in-waiting Maid | Madeleine Hyland | ||
Sir John Seymour Thomas Wolsey Archbishop Warham Sir William Kingston | Paul Jesson | ||
Anne Boleyn | Lydia Leonard | ||
Thomas Cromwell | Ben Miles | ||
Christophe Francis Weston | Pierro Niel-Mee | ||
King Henry VIII | Nathaniel Parker | ||
Stephen Gardiner Eustache Chapuys | Matthew Pidgeon | ||
Henry Norris Thomas More | John Ramm | ||
Harry Percy William Brereton | Nicholas Shaw | ||
Rafe Sadler | Alexander Cobb | Joshua Silver | |
Thomas Boleyn Thomas Cranmer French Ambassador | Giles Taylor | ||
Thomas Wyatt Headsman | Jay Taylor | ||
Wolsey's Servant Servant Barge-Master | — | Benedict Hastings |
Year | Award Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2014 | Evening Standard Theatre Awards | |||
Best Director | Jeremy Herrin | Won | ||
Best Actor | Ben Miles | Nominated | ||
2015 | WhatsOnStage Awards | Best New Play | Nominated | |
Best Supporting Actor in a Play | Nathaniel Parker | Nominated | ||
Laurence Olivier Awards | Best New Play | Nominated | ||
Best Director | Jeremy Herrin | Nominated | ||
Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Nathaniel Parker | Won | ||
Best Costume Design | Christopher Oram | Won | ||
Best Lighting Design | Paule Constable and David Plater | Nominated | ||
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratford-upon-Avon, and on tour across the UK and internationally.
Mark Smeaton was a musician at the court of Henry VIII of England, in the household of Queen Anne Boleyn. Smeaton – together with the Queen's brother George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford; Henry Norris; Francis Weston and William Brereton – was executed for treason and adultery with Queen Anne.
Michael Vivian Fyfe Pennington is an English actor, director and writer. Together with director Michael Bogdanov, he founded the English Shakespeare Company in 1986 and was its Joint Artistic Director until 1992. He has written ten books, directed in the UK, US, Romania and Japan, and is an Honorary Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He is best known for his role as Moff Jerjerrod in the original Star Wars trilogy film Return of the Jedi.
John Woodvine is an English actor who has appeared in more than 70 theatre productions, as well as a similar number of television and film roles.
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.
Alan MacKenzie Howard was an English actor. He was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1966 to 1983 and played leading roles at the Royal National Theatre between 1992 and 2000.
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'.
John Ramm is an English comedian and actor. He plays Raymond Box in the National Theatre of Brent, and has also appeared on film and television in Robin Hood, The Palace, Foyle's War and as Makepeace's neighbour in Shakespeare in Love.
Lydia Leonard is a British actress. She starred in the stage adaptation of Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies. On television, she is known for her roles in the BBC Two sitcom Quacks (2017) and the Amazon Prime series Ten Percent (2022). She also appeared in The Crown (2022–2023) on Netflix.
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 a Founding Director of Second Half Productions with Alan Stacey and Rob O’Rahilly. He was previously Artistic Director of the British touring theatre company; Headlong.
Paul Jesson is an English stage, television and film actor and an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
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.
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.
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.