Werrington’s Henry Lawson Theatre has just successfully completed the run of its latest production, a revival of British playwright William Nicholson’s 1998 play, ‘Katherine Howard’. Nicholson is best known for his wonderful play ‘Shadowlands’ about the great Irish born British writer, C.S.Lewis.

Nicholson’s play goes behind the story of Katherine Howard, the fifth wife of King Henry V111. Howard was beheaded in 1542 for adultery, supposedly committed with her premarital sweetheart, Thomas Culpepper. History books have presumed the young Queen, formerly a lady-in-waiting to King Henry’s previous Queen, Anne of Cleves, played the King false, supposing her foolish and hedonistic by nature. This isn’t the way that the British playwright saw things after his research, and his play goes into bat for Howard, and tells a different story.

Director Anthony Stirling-Edgar helmed this production, of a play that he has had his sights on for a long time. In what represents his 30th production for the Henry Lawson Theatre, Stirling came up with a raw, emotional night at the theatre focusing on man’s baser instincts. ‘Katherine Howard’ depicts a world where power is wielded unrelentingly, where intrigue and betrayal are around every corner, and where people lived in an atmosphere of fear and fought a constant struggle for survival.

Stirling-Edgar’s creative team, including set and costume designer Leone Sharp and lighting designer Ray Watts, created the right environment for the large cast to work with. Young up and coming actress Sarah Connor impressed as the straight-shooting, feisty Katherine Howard. David Attrill’s portrayal of King Henry V111 depicted a gruff, lonely, tragic figure whose only consolation was the power that he yielded. Luke Middlebrook played a disconsolate Thomas Culpepper, trying to come to terms with losing Katherine to the King.

Sascha Hall played the naïve Anne of Cleves, whom King Henry summarily divorces, Kevin Ryan impressed in his portrayal of the spineless Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk, who turns his back on his daughter Katherine when the pressure heated up. Janet Boreham impressed as the weak, manipulative Lady Jane Rochford, the Queen’s Lady-In Waiting, who betrays Queen Katherine and then is herself betrayed. Wayne Guy played the spiteful, relentless Thomas Crammer, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Andrew Thorpe shone in the play’s only light, comic role as the court jester Will Somers.

Anthony Stirling-Edgar’s production of William Nicholson’s ‘Katherine Howard’ played the Henry Lawson Theatre on the corner of Henry Lawson Drive and Dunheved Road, Werrington County, between Friday September 17 and Friday October 3, 2010.