Entertaining Henry was a Pop Up Festival of Performance and History from the Life and Times of Henry the Eighth – it performed from 20th-22nd June 2025 and the shows are being archived on our patreon feed.

Expert early theatre troupe Beyond will take you through a whistle-stop tour of the entertainment world from Henry’s reign: from his youthful days to his more fractious later life, we will share the history of his reign through the plays he and his subjects enjoyed.

Play along with our Tudor Bingo Card, catch the pop-up merry tales, and enjoy entertainments fit for a king!

A co-production with The Quay Theatre and Beyond Shakespeare…

Friday 20^th June at 7.30pm

Show 1 – Welcome to Henry’s Court! (1509 to 1520’s)

We welcome you to the Court of the newly-crowned King Henry! Let us introduce you to all the major players on and off stage, the rules of the court, and perform some of the earliest plays to survive from his reign – plays designed to curb Henry’s boisterous ways.

Featuring performances of The Interlude of Youth & The World and the Child – plays from early in Henry’s reign.

The Interlude of Youth is your entry point to the playing companies of the day. Five actors, part of the household of a nobleman, producing drama for large social occasions and even the court itself. A short and funny attempt to temper a young lad with a little humility, before he goes too far off the rails.

The World and the Child covers the whole of a human life – from his birth as the titular Child, through his journey as a Man in the world, and acceptance of his final end. A beautiful story of birth, death, pride and hope.

Saturday 21^st June at 7.30pm

Show 2 – Reformation: More vs Cromwell (1520’s to 1530’s)

As the Reformation hit England, different factions created dramas around the political rifts at court. The literary set that orbited Thomas More presented traditional debate on one side, whilst the rising star of Thomas Cromwell commissioned his players to write revelations on the other.

Featuring performances of The Temptation by John Bale & Gentleness and Nobility by John Heywood – plays from the height of Henry’s break with Rome, each from the other side of the confession.

John Bale was an East Anglian playwright who radically reshaped the traditional mystery plays of medieval drama into something startlingly new. His play on The Temptation of Christ in the Wilderness is a psychologically powerful look at a battle of wits between a man and the devil. Probably commissioned by Thomas Cromwell for the spreading of the new Protestant message.

In contrast we have Gentleness and Nobility by John Heywood, which challenges and questions the class system of the day. Possibly a collaboration with John Rastell, the builder of the first purpose built theatre we know of, it is the high point of the work that came out of what we might call the Thomas More set; ultimately pushed to the sidelines as the Reformation sweeps away More and his followers.

As part of the build up to the season, we discussed many of the figures who feature in our Reformation show with Dr Joanne Paul – author of Thomas More: A Life and Death in Tudor England.

Sunday 22^nd June at 7.30pm

Show 3 – Snail Fight! And Other Tudor Shenanigans (1530’s to 1547)

We close our festival with some of the sillier plays from the end of Henry’s reign – featuring a sword fight with a snail, an ecclesiastical bust up in a church, and the epic conquest of the monster Tediousness!

Featuring performances of The Pardoner and the Friar by John Heywood & Thersites attributed to Nicholas Udall, as well as a selection of pieces from other plays in the sillier end of the spectrum of the drama of the period.

The Pardoner and the Friar is Heywood’s most theatrical work, and arguably the most theatrical play ever written. Probably based on true events, this is tour-de-force for two actors as the titular characters who fight it out over who gets to address the audience.

The festival couldn’t do without a snail fight! Thersites is a play about a braggart soldier, who talks the talk but cannot walk the walk – leading to his greatest struggle, a sword fight with a snail.

Find out more about the play Thersites in this discussion episode with Professor Liz Oakley-Brown – Snail Fight!

All of these plays, and the additional speeches and scenes we’ll share with you over the course of the festival, have been workshopped and developed as part of our ongoing online output, on the podcast and the YouTube channel. You can find more about all of these plays on our timeline pages.

Unlock the shows with our Tudor Bingo Card. Like a modern pantomine, plays performed during Henry’s reign were chock full of conventions and expectations – and we’ll guide you through some of those conventions during the show.

The Bingo Card will be on display throughout, and the audience will get their own to tick off the as the shows go on.

Alas, there will be no prizes to win, beyond the joy in taking part.