Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival Wraps 22nd Season with HENRY VIII, Beg. Tonight

The final play of the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival's 22nd season, Henry VIII, previews tonight, July 24, opens July 25, and runs through August 4 at the Labuda Center for the Arts at DeSales University.

Rehearsed the way Shakespeare's company likely would have, this production will feature actors taking control, arriving with their lines learned and opening before an audience in a matter of days. There is no director - the position did not exist in Shakespeare's time. And no designers, also a more recent invention. Actors costume themselves after a costume shop "raid," and commandeer props and elements from other Festival productions to fulfill a production that is uniquely of their invention.

This approach to Henry VIII creates a theatrical experience for patrons similar to audience experience in Shakespeare's time. This is PSF's third consecutive season employing what it calls "extreme Shakespeare." Actors in Shakespeare's time were believed to perform on short notice and present dozens of plays in the span of a few weeks.

Notorious for his habit of wedding and beheading, Henry VIII is played by Ian Bedford. Playing Henry's scheming right-hand man Cardinal Wolsey is Richard B. Watson. Henry maneuvers through the political landscape of Renaissance England, hastening the rise and fall of cardinals and queens, one being Queen Katherine played by Susan Riley Stevens.

Shakespeare's play about the life of England's most famous monarch mixes history, tragedy, and romance - yielding great dramatic dimension and power.

Peter Schmitz plays Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Anthony Lawton, Prologue/Epilogue, and Christopher Patrick Mullen, Duke of Buckingham, takes on an array of characters throughout the play. Marguerite Price stage manages the production.

Tickets are $25-34, with discounts available for student rush and groups. To order, call the box office at 610.282.WILL [9455], ext. 1., or online at www.pashakespeare.org.

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