HENRY VIII
by William Shakespeare
The New York Shakespeare Festival
Delacorte Theater in Central Park, NYC
In Henry VIII, Shakespeare writes that Henry meets and falls in love with Anne Boleyn during a court dance. The director, Mary Zimmerman, asked me to choreograph a dance inspired by—but not limited to—period movement that could tell that story. She wanted it to feel like the "last great moment" in the regime before Henry's world began to unravel. I heightened specific movements of Baroque dance (incorporating lifts and using set pieces in unexpected ways) and worked with the actors on the quality of their interaction in order to create a magical, romantic effect. At the same time, I sought to bring out the undercurrents of political intrigue at the court through the reactions of characters such as the disapproving Cardinal Woolsey.
DIRECTED by Mary Zimmerman | CHOREOGRAPHED by Sabrina Peck | SET by Riccardo Hernandez | COSTUMES by Toni-Leslie James | LIGHTING by Michael Chybowski | SOUND by JR Conklin | ORIGINAL MUSIC by Michael Bodeen. WITH:
Ruben Santiago-Hudson (King Henry VIII), Jayne Atkinson (Queen Katherine), Josef Sommer (Cardinal Wolsey), Marin Hinkle (Ann Boleyn) and cast
A videotape of Henry VIII can be viewed at the Lincoln Center Library of Performing Arts in New York City. To make a viewing appointment, call the Theater on Film and Tape Archive at 212-870-1642.
"Notable for its visual sumptuousness...The configuring of the actors by Ms. Zimmerman and the choreographer Sabrina Peck often make for a luscious eyeful."
—The New York Times
"...and the crucial ball scene at Cardinal Wolsey's, where Henry meets Anne Boleyn, is beautifully done, and much helped by the stylish choreography of Sabrina Peck."
—New York Post