The Mirror in my Mind

So, quite by accident yesterday evening, I ended up catching one of the preview performances of Henry VIII at the Folger. It was a production I'd wanted to see, but hadn't quite figured out when I'd manage it. Through a nice series of coincidences, I was spending yesterday afternoon in the Folger and after finishing dinner, realised I had enough time to get back for the evening performance. So, there we go.

Short version: SEE IT IF YOU CAN. IT IS GREAT.

( Fairly long and extremely impressionistic review below. )

To conclude, a striking production that uses visual and thematic cues to hold a disjointed play together. I definitely recommend it. Running through November 20.

Oh, and the Henry VIII exhibit in the Library is also really good. I drooled over lots of books, including a 1548 edition of Le miroir de l'âme pêcheresse as translated by Elizabeth I. It's TINY. And ADORABLE.

Also, I sniggered every time I saw something I'd quoted in my dissertation. That made for a lot of sniggering. They sadly did not have a copy of Hall out, though they did have a Holinshed, and a facsimile of the 1550 frontispiece to Hall, with its miraculous all-male family tree (except for Elizabeth of York, Margaret Beaufort, and 'Eleanor, doughter to the Earl of March', who I am fairly certain was actually named Anne; bad Grafton!). So, well worth having a look if you're around.

I'd like to preface by admitting that I haven't read Love's Labours Lost in a very long time. I saw it once before, in Louisville in July, 2001, and enjoyed it far more than I would have expected, since my previous attempts to read it had met with much frustration. So, while I know Gregory Doran made a substantial number of cuts to the script (he couldn't have done otherwise and managed a running time under three hours with interval), I'm not altogether sure what cuts those were.

Anyway, without further ado, here we go.

( Longish review below )

In all, I really enjoyed the production, despite a few flaws, and found it quite thought-provoking. Not to mention it was visually gorgeous.

Disclaimer: These are long and they ramble a lot. I'm taking them more or less verbatim from my notes, though getting rid of bad grammar and things I don't think about when I'm scribbling madly. ;) I'm also adding in proper act and scene numbers so that the descriptions make more sense. Due to the vagaries of train travel -- as I mentioned in the previous entry -- I missed all of Act I and the first two scenes of Act II of Henry IV, Part I.

My review of Richard II, which I saw on 20 November 2007, is here.

( Henry IV, Part I )
( Henry IV, Part II )
( Henry V )
( Henry VI, Part I )
( Henry VI, Part II )
( Henry VI, Part III )
( Richard III )

I do have overall thoughts as well, but most of them are so tied up with my dissertation that I'll spare you and put them into my Shakespeare chapter instead.