United Players Of Vancouver
By Kate Hennig
Directed by Laura McLean
Kate Parr is smart, confident and passionate: a rising star in a world of intense competition. But her obligatory marriage to Henry is rife with the threat of violence and the lure of deceit. A contemporary retelling of the compelling relationship between Katherine Parr and Henry VIII, The Last Wife is a funny, powerful examination of patriarchy, sexual politics, and women’s rights.
Dates: September 8 – October 1, 2023
Times: Thurs-Sat evenings at 8:00 pm, Sun matinee at 2:00 pm
Preview: September 7 ($15.00)
Opening: September 8
Talkbacks: Thursday, September 14 and Sunday, September 17
Matinées: All Sundays (September 10, 17, 24, October 1)
RUNTIME of the show is 2-1/2 hours, including intermission
Performances will be available in-person only.
This show is no longer available – thank you for joining us!
“a smart, witty, imaginative and thoroughly engaging 2-1/2 hours of superb live theatre… completely absorbing”.
– Jo Ledingham, https://joledingham.ca/the-last-wife/
“Matthew Bissett is excellent as the capricious Henry… Courtney Shields is an equal for Bissett’s Henry.”
– Elizabeth Patterson, https://reviewvancouver.org/th_UP_Last_Wife2023.htm
“The acting ranges from very good to terrific… United Players’ The Last Wife is smart theatre, compelling and well executed”,
– Jerry Wasserman, https://www.vancouverplays.com/review-united-players-last-wife-23.shtml
by Kate Hennig
DIRECTED BY:
Laura McLean
~~~~~~~~~~~~
CAST
Kate – Courtney Shields
Henry – Matthew Bissett*
Mary – Junita Thiessen
Thom – Mehdi Lamrini
Bess – Lauren Alberico
Eddie – Rickie Wang
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* Appearing by permission of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association.
PRODUCTION TEAM
Producer – Joan Bryans
Apprentice Producer – Shamim Shivji
Technical Director – Kezi Jacob
Set Design – Ryan Cormack
Lead Painter– Yena Lee
Set Painters – Kristien Agi, Jo Scott Baxendale, Ryan Cormack, Yena Lee, Taz MacKinnon, Dina Manglie, Sarah Rodgers, Poppy Rodgersmith, Shamim Shivji, Margo Willis
Head Carpenter – Bruce Suttie
Set Crew – Bill Bone, Ken Scott
Sound Design/Composer – Daniel Tessy
Associate Sound Design– Rick Colhoun
Lighting Design – Hina Nishioka
Lighting Crew– Matt Loop
Costume Design – Sydney Cavanagh
Properties – Joan Bryans, Josina De Bree, Barbara Walsh
Stage Manager – Maria Denholme
Assistant Stage Managers – Barbara Ellison, Cheryl-Lee Fast, Chris Magnusson, Mark Thorburn
Photography – Nancy Caldwell
Programme Design – Susan Mellor
Programme Editor – Fran Burnside
~~~~~
* Appearing by permission of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association.
COVID-19 SAFETY MEASURES: United Players has a strict Communicable Diseases Plan in place, which you can find here. Updates will be made throughout the season as needed. We rely on everyone to help us protect community health and safety – some principle points include:
• Please stay home if you are ill.
• United Players acknowledges that mask-wearing is a personal choice.
We continue to work to make your visit a safe and enjoyable one. If you have any questions or suggestions for improvement, please reach out at safety@unitedplayers.com.
Kate Hennig has been writing in one way or another for most of her life. Her writing includes plays, poetry, stories, articles for industry publications, a dissertation, two blogs and a research paper.
Kate’s play The Last Wife had its world premiere in the 2015 Stratford Festival season. The Last Wife was shortlisted for the 2015 Carol Bolt Award. It has had more than ten productions across Canada and the United States. It premiered at the Ensemble Theatre in Sydney, Australia in September 2019.
Her second play in the series, The Virgin Trial, premiered at Stratford, won the Carol Bolt Award for Best New Play 2017, and was short-listed for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama. It has had subsequent productions in Calgary, Ottawa, Toronto and San Diego.
Mother’s Daughter, which premiered at the Stratford Festival in June 2019, is the third in Kate’s cycle of plays about women and power, based on the rich and dramatic lives of the Tudor queens. It subsequently played at Soulpepper Theatre in Toronto.
Kate’s translation and adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac premiered at the Shaw Festival in 2019 and returned in 2022.
She adapted Oscar Wilde’s stories for children, Wilde Tales, which played to great critical success in the 2017 season at The Shaw.
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