Henning Kate - The Last Wife

the Last Wife Kate Hennig Playwrights
Canada Press Toronto The Last Wife 2015 by Kate Hennig Selections from Katherine Parr: Complete Works and Correspondence, edited by Janet Mueller, 2011 by The University of Chicago. Used with permission of the publisher, The University of Chicago Press. No part of this book may be reproduced, downloaded, or used in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, except for excerpts in a review or by a licence from Access Copyright, www.accesscopyright.ca. Cover photo of Curtain Daniel Arsham

202-269 Richmond St. W. -- First edition. -- First edition.

Issued in print and electronic formats. ISBN 978-1-77091-410-0 (paperback).--ISBN 978-1-77091-411-7 (pdf).- ISBN 978-1-77091-412-4 (epub).--ISBN 978-1-77091-413-1 (mobi) 1. Henry VIII, King of England, 1491-1547--Drama. 2. Catharine Parr, Queen, consort of Henry VIII, King of England, 1512-1548- Drama. Title. Title.

PS8615.E543L37 2015 C812.6 C2015-904058-2 C2015-904059-0 We acknowledge the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council (OAC), the Ontario Media Development Corporation, and the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities. Nous remercions lappui financier du Conseil des Arts du Canada, le Conseil arts de lOntario (CAO), la Socit de dveloppement de lindustrie des mdias de lOntario, et le Gouvernement du Canada par lentremise du Fonds du livre du Canada pour nos activits ddition.

To my parents and siblings, for the contributions that only parents and siblings can make, and to Andy McKim: caring and supportive co-parent of my literary children. The Last Wife is an imagining of history. Oh yes, its based on actual people and events, and while portions of it are deliciously accurate, some bits may offend the historically precise among you, while still others are completely and utterly fabricated. My priority in choosing must always favour the dramatic.

What I am deeply interested in is the humanity of these iconic historical characters. I want to imagine what makes them do what they do, just as I want to imagine what makes Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, and Aung San Suu Kyi do what they do. They are human after all. They have mothers, fathers, siblings, and children. One expects that they play tennis, watch television, read books; they laugh, worry, drink too much coffee from time to time. It fascinates me to create these personal possibilities and then imagine how they might lead to some of the major decisions that history records.

It helps us to see women as a moving political force of history away from the battlefields and the halls of office. It helps us see the Tudor wave of feminism. KH The Last Wife was first produced by the Stratford Festival and premiered at the Studio Theatre in Stratford, Ontario, on August 14, 2015, with the following cast and creative team:

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