Nathaniel Parker returns as Henry VIII in RSC's Mantel trilogy

Hilary Mantel’s Man Booker Prize-winning novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies were brought to the stage in 2014 by the Royal Shakespeare Company, adapted by Mike Poulton and directed by Jeremy Herrin.

The third in the series, The Mirror and the Light, has opened at the Gielgud Theatre, again directed by Herrin but this time adapted by Mantel herself with Ben Miles, who has played the central character of Thomas Cromwell across all three plays.

Also returning is Nathaniel Parker as King Henry VIII. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to him on the morning of the press night performance about the production, as well as about playing real people (from King Henry to Gordon Brown and Albert Speer), lockdown, playing Bond (in a manner of speaking) and just a little bit of politics.

The Mirror and the Light began previews at London’s Gielgud Theatre on 23 September 2021, opened on 6 October and is booking until 23 January 2022.

For more information about the production, see the web sites of The Mirror and the Light or The RSC. To keep up-to-date with Nat’s work and blog posts, see his web site.

(Nathaniel Parker as Henry VIII in The Mirror and the Light - Photo by Marc Brenner)