Shakes by the Lake: Part 1 - Henry the 8th I AM

Henry VIII
Cleveland Shakespeare Festival - Cleveland, Ohio
July 14, 2012

Brad - A
Chelsea - C

Did you know that Cleveland, Ohio, is only five and a half hours from Washington, DC? I didn't, but I do now.  How do I know, you ask? Well, Chelsea and I (and her ever-present wedding task folder) drove to Cleveland to see two Shakespeare shows.  Unfortunately, Taggart had other plans that weekend, so he stayed in DC and held down the fort.

Yes, Tag is judging you for reading this.

So, after our brief commute to Cleveland on Saturday morning, we arrived at the Shaker Heights Community Collonade for a production of Henry VIII.

In honor of being in Ohio, we decided to get a delicious Donato's pizza for our picnic and play in the park.  Chelsea got to sit in the one chair we brought; I sat on the ground, the hard, hard ground. 

So, Henry VIII:  At the outset, no one but Henry VIII likes Cardinal Wolsey.  He lies, cheats, and holds power over the king.  The first example is Lord Buckingham.  LB tells some of the Lords that he distrusts Wolsey.  Next thing you know, Wolsey is arrested for treason, and then he is sentenced to die.  Wolsey 1; LB 0.  Then Wolsey has a party at his house.  The King attends in masquerade, but Wolsey knows its him.  The King also meets a beautiful young Anne Bullen and becomes smitten.  The King then looks to divorce his current wife, Kate, and Wolsey sees this as his opportunity to get back at Kate.  There is an epic divorce trial, but Kate refuses to consent to the court's jurisdiction.  Trial ends. Because Wolsey was essentially prosecuting Kate at this trial, he garners even more favor with the King.  But then the chickens come home to roost.  The Lords arrange to have Wolsey's message to the Pope redirected to the King.  The King learns that Wolsey is playing him by prosecuting the divorce for the king, but urging the Pope to deny the divorce.  Wolsey is ousted, a new churchman proves his loyalty to the King, and Anne Bullen becomes queen.  She has a baby girl -- HA! -- and the play ends as the baby is baptized. 

The play is much better than that description, but this play strikes me as a time-period, political thriller so there is a lot of court/church intrigue that is not easily summarized.

So, the director of our production was very ambitious.  First, a choice that worked, the director set this as a political thriller by putting all of the lords and the king in business suits and having them all obsess over their blackberrys.  This actually worked very well.  When the Lords "redirected" Wolsey's message, it was implied that those messages were an email or text.  A not so good choice, however, was when the director chose to have Henry VIII masquerade as a break dancer at Wolsey's party early in the play.

This was just out of place and awkward.  Similarly, at one point, when Queen Kate was hallucinating about Anne Bullen being Henry's new bride, there was a bride-laden dance scene.

Also, at random points, the cast sang modern songs, but the cast did not have very strong voices.  The actual performance was fine.  What was strange, however, was that the director had the actors/singers stand dead still and sing with absolutely no emotion whatsoever.  Very strange.

Beyond the director's ambitions, the cast did great.  Cardinal Wolsey was very creepy.  The Lords were actually very strong, and Anne Bullen was great.  For a cast without a single professional actor, the play was pretty good!

After the play we went back to our hotel and went to the hotel restaurant for dessert and drinks.  Long story short, we asked the manager a question about the menu, and she responded by insulting us.  Ahhh Cleveland.  

All in all a good day.  We made it to Cleveland easily, the play was entertaining --- for right and wrong reasons --- and a random restaurant manager called us low class.  After such a lovely day, we had the promise of spending yet another blessed day in Cleveland the following day! Gotta love it.

Brad VIII