Stage Door News
Stage Door News
July 30, 2015… The Last Wife, a startlingly contemporary play about Katherine Parr, the last wife of Henry VIII, will have its world première at the Studio Theatre on Friday, August 14. Written by former company member and award-winning theatre artist Kate Hennig, the production begins previews today, directed by Alan Dilworth in his Stratford directorial debut, and starring Maev Beaty in the title role.
An exciting new play developed through Stratford’s Laboratory, The Last Wife focuses on a dying husband, a steamy affair and a marriage steeped in violence that nonetheless offers an irresistible promise. Does Kate risk her safety to gain power? Does she love the man she should love or the man she must love? And what happens to her children when she loses it all?
The production features Sara Farb as Mary, Jonah Q. Gribble as Eddie, Gareth Potter as Thom, Bahia Watson as Bess and Joseph Ziegler as Henry.
Artistic credits include Designer Yannik Larivée, Lighting Designer Kimberly Purtell, Sound Designer Alexander MacSween, Dramaturge Bob White, Originating Dramaturge Andy McKim and Fight Director John Stead.
“The story of patriarchy inundates us,” says Mr. Dilworth. “If we are fish, the story of patriarchy is the water we are swimming in. The trouble is, it can be hard to notice the story we are dwelling in and not mistake it for truth itself. The Last Wife invites us – through the story of the formidable and extraordinary Katherine Parr – to notice the water, and to consider the possibility of changing it. Is change possible? And if one lets go of one’s story of how things have been, how things are, what lies beyond?”
“The Last Wife is just one of several works in this season of Discovery that invites us to explore the power imbalance between men and women,” says Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino. “Kate Hennig has constructed a powerful portrayal of Katherine Parr as a highly capable and educated woman, struggling with how she is perceived and treated by men. Through its contemporary tone, the play holds up a prophetic mirror to our still unbalanced world as we look around and realize that, sadly, not much has changed.”
Mr. Dilworth is a past participant in the Michael Langham Workshop, serving as Assistant Director of Elektra and The Little Years. His body of work is known for its stage imagery and theatrical minimalism, earning him numerous awards including the inaugural Christopher Plummer Fellowship Award of Excellence for his work with classical text. Recent credits include Passion Play at Outside the March, La Ronde at Soulpepper, Crash at Theatre Passe Muraille, as well as The Unforgetting and If We Were Birds, both of which won the SummerWorks Theatre Festival jury prize for Outstanding Production. He is also the Co-Artistic Director of Sheep No Wool.
Ms Beaty fast won a place as a leading player last season with her striking performances as Goneril in King Lear and Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. A theatre-maker, actor, writer and voice artist, Ms Beaty is noted for such Toronto credits as Passion Play at Outside the March Theatre Company/Convergence Theatre/Sheep No Wool, La Ronde and Parfumerie at Soulpepper, Civility at Necessary Angel, and Outside the March’s Terminus, which was later presented as part of the inaugural Off-Mirvish season. She is Co-Artistic Director of Sheep No Wool and an Artistic Associate of Groundwater Productions and Outside the March.
Production support is generously provided by Karon C. Bales & Charles E. Beall.
Support for the 2015 season of the Studio Theatre is generously provided by Sandra & Jim Pitblado.
The Last Wife Forum Highlights
The Stratford Festival Forum is a series of activities and events, including fascinating talks, interactive presentations, concerts, comedy shows and performances, that offer theatregoers a unique opportunity to delve further into the ideas and issues raised by the 2015 playbill and its theme of Discovery: That Eureka Moment.
Themes related to The Last Wife will be explored through several Forum events, including:
Celebrating Ambiguity
Wednesday, August 5, 10:45 a.m. to noon
Studio Theatre
Director Alan Dilworth hosts a session that investigates the meaning-making power of metaphor in the theatre, with panellists including Kate Hennig, Joseph Ziegler and clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson.
Education for Transformation
Wednesday, September 2, 10:45 a.m. to noon
Studio Theatre
Actor Maev Beaty hosts this special session with Marina Nemat, Dr. Samantha Nutt and Dr. Natalie Zemon Davis to discuss the global impact of prioritizing the education of girls.
Sustaining support for the Forum is generously provided by Kelly & Michael Meighen and the T.R. Meighen Family Foundation.
Support for the 2015 season of the Forum is provided in memory of Dr. W. Philip Hayman.
Stratford Direct, the daily return private bus service, now offers two routes: Toronto to Stratford and Detroit to Stratford. The Toronto bus costs $20 round trip, departing twice daily from May 4 to September 19. The Detroit bus costs $40 round trip, departing once daily from May 26 to September 19. Both routes are available on performance days with some exceptions.
Stratford Direct is generously sponsored by the Peter Cundill Foundation.
The 2015 season, which runs until November 1, features Hamlet, The Sound of Music, Carousel, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Taming of the Shrew, She Stoops to Conquer, The Physicists, The Alchemist, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Oedipus Rex, Possible Worlds, The Last Wife and The Adventures of Pericles. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit stratfordfestival.ca or call 1.800.567.1600.
Photo: Maev Beaty and Joseph Ziegler. ©2014 Don Dixon.
2015-07-30
Stratford: "The Last Wife" about Katherine Parr begins previews