This is a repeating event- Event 7 / 817 January 2026 6:00 pm19 January 2026 6:00 pm
Shakespeare's Henry VI
Event Details
Henry VI is believed to have been the first of Shakespeare’s plays to receive a public performance: the first record of of any play by Shakespeare on stage is of ‘harry the vj’ at the Rose Playhouse in Southwark in March 1592.
More than four centuries later, in 2025, Born with Teeth, a play about Shakespeare and his contemporary Christopher Marlowe (the title of which is a quote from the third part of the Henry VI trilogy) playing at Wyndhams Theatre on Charing Cross Road suggested that Henry VI was co-written by the two playwrights. Although this is probably a stretch, there is no doubt that early in Shakespeare’s career plays were frequently co-written, often by several different playwrights, and the dominant voice in the theatre of the early 1590s was Marlowe’s. But even in this early work, Shakespeare’s distinctive voice was already emerging from the influence of Roman tragedians such as Seneca and contemporaries like Marlowe.
The three Henry VI plays are more often adapted than performed in their entirety – Peter Hall and John Barton’s Wars of the Roses in 1963 led to further versions – but the plays abound in spellbinding speeches from, among others, Joan of Arc and the doomed English hero, Sir John Talbot; from Henry’s “She-wolf” queen, Margaret of Anjou; and from the young Duke of Gloucester, who already has his eyes fixed firmly on the crown and is determined to “set the murderous Machiavel to school”.
For this study we plan to read selected scenes from each play and also focus on some of these glorious individual speeches.
JOINING DETAILS:
- Eight-week live online study led by Jane Wymark and Tim Swinglehurst
- Mondays, 6.00-8.00 pm (UK), 12 January – 2 March 2026
- £320 for eight meetings with two facilitators
REDUCED COSTS: we are committed to making our studies as affordable as possible. We have a fund in place to support anyone who would like to register for a study but finds the cost difficult to afford. We can’t promise to help, but please email us at litsalon@gmail.com in confidence if you would like to request a reduction in the cost of a study.
