England in 1527. Henry VIII has been King for almost twenty years but his wife, Katherine of Aragon has failed to deliver him a male heir. Disastrously, the king’s chief advisor, Cardinal Wolsey, the butcher’s boy from Ipswich, is unable to persuade the Pope to grant Henry the divorce he needs in order to marry Anne Boleyn. Yet for a man with the right talents this crisis proves be an opportunity. Thomas Cromwell is a commoner who has risen in Wolsey’s household – and he will stop at nothing to please the King and advance his own ambitions.
Cromwell is one of kind: the son of a brutal blacksmith, a political genius, a briber, a charmer, a bully, a ready wit, a man with a delicate and deadly expertise in manipulating people and events.
Mike Poulton’s adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s acclaimed novel Wolf Hall is an enthralling, utterly convincing and often humorous portrait of a brilliant man embroiled in the lethal, high-stakes politics of the Court of Henry VIII.
With a vast array of characters, and overflowing with incident and drama, the play peels back history to show us Tudor England as we have never encountered it before.
Directed by James Hayward, Gallery Players’ production features a first rate cast of local actors.