Neptune Theatre Opens its 2019-2020 season with Kate Hennig’s play The Last Wife, which premiered at the Stratford Festival in 2015, where it enjoyed a completely sold-out and extended run. It has since had its American debut at the TimeLine Theatre in Chicago and its original cast went on to remount their production at Soulpepper Theatre in Toronto. The play centres on Katherine Parr, King Henry VIII’s sixth and final wife, the only one who outlives him, and how she was able to shrewdly pave the way for her stepdaughters, Mary and Bess, to become future Queens of England in their own right.
Theatre New Brunswick’s Artistic Director Natasha MacLellan saw the Ontario production and fell in love with it. “When I saw it I was Artistic Producer at Ships Company (in Parrsboro),” MacLellan says, “It wouldn’t have really fit our mandate. I knew [Neptune Theatre] was the house for it. [Neptune’s Artistic Director] Jeremy [Webb] and I are longtime friends and I just said, ‘Bud, you have to see this show. It is a perfect regional theatre show. And, if it goes well, there are two more in the trilogy.’ I’m a fan of trilogies. I commissioned one at Ship’s Company, a mystery trilogy. It’s that Netflix thing of binge watching: we want more and more and more… It’s so similar to The Crown, I find. It’s [about] looking at what the private lives of people who make such big decisions are like.”
Koumbie, who plays Bess, agrees, “It was such a fun show to research,” she says, “I spent the whole summer reading and watching [books and shows about the Tudors]… I think we all still have a fascination with the rich and powerful and how they really live- the Kardashians or whatever… we want to know what they look like when they go home and take the fancy dresses off.”
Costume Designer Janet MacLellan chose ten pieces from Swarovski for the actors in The Last Wife to wear, because, unlike with most theatre productions, The Last Wife requires a haute couture aesthetic that cannot be faked. “Every second of this thing is eye candy,” says Natasha MacLellan, “Every second. [The costumes and jewelry] elevate you. It can be realism still, but it’s not everyday. The [characters] come [onstage] wearing evening gowns and haute couture; it just takes you to the level of royalty… Our team is just remarkable. They’re so good. Katherine [Ryan] and Ingrid [Risk] and Janet [MacLellan], I just love their work completely, and they are a magic team.” This is Natasha MacLellan’s first time directing on the Main Stage at Neptune, which she says feels significant in her career. Laughing she relates, “Finally my family is like ‘oh! I’ll come see this play!’” After being “Indie Atlantic Canadian Play girl for a long time… this is nice. It’s nice to have all the toys.”
Koumbie is also making her debut at Neptune in this show. Her character, Bess, grows up to become Queen Elizabeth I, but The Last Wife chronicles events that happened when she was around fourteen years old. “When we first meet [Bess] she’s been outcasted, sent away, she is considered a bastard because [her younger brother] Eddie has been born, and he is the son and the heir, so now she’s [considered] the daughter of a whore,” Koumbie says, “she is staying at Hatfield and comes back pretty low status. It’s Katherine Parr who starts to plant these seeds that she does deserve to be a Princess, and maybe she even deserves to be in line for the throne. Throughout the play we see those seeds get planted, so by the end she is empowered and believes that she is next in line to the throne and ready to be Queen. … It’s just a little arc,” Koumbie laughs.
“Katherine was an incredible historical figure,” adds MacLellan, “She made it possible for Mary and Elizabeth to inherit the throne because she saw the shortsightedness of Henry’s decisions. A significant part of this play is about her trying to institute change and trying to change his mind, and he is not a man to be steered. At All. If she steps over the line, literally death is the penalty. That’s the only way out for her: his death or hers.” “It’s very fascinating,” says Koumbie, “[Bess] was three when her mother was killed. In many ways Katherine Parr was the only mother figure she’d ever had. Katherine was the oldest, because all the [stepmothers] who came before were, like, teenagers… so she is the first mature one, and she’s also the only one who survives [Henry], and, actually, Bess goes to live with her after her dad dies and, for sure in the show, she is the one that Bess calls ‘mother.’” Koumbie says Bess’ relationship to Henry VIII is extremely complex and that she finds the religious aspects that the show touches on fascinating. “Not only is [Henry] my daddy, not only is he my King, not only is he the man who had my mother murdered, he is also God’s chosen person on Earth,” she stresses, adding that would have had such profound implications for a young woman of Elizabeth’s time.
MacLellan expresses her gratitude and respect for the production’s cast and crew saying, “The cast is phenomenal. … This team is so remarkable and it’s so heartening seeing all Atlantic Canadians working on the Main Stage.” Koumbie notes how special it is to be given the opportunity to play a historical character like Queen Elizabeth I. “I think it’s really dope that I get to play a future Queen with box braids,” she laughs, “That’s really special to me. Growing up and being like, ‘I want to be an actor… here are all the roles that I will never play’… and then someone like Kate Hennig comes along who is like, “Why?”… I think that is dope.”
Me too.
The Last Wife by Kate Hennig, directed by Natasha MacLellan plays at Neptune Theatre’s Fountain Hall Stage (1593 Argyle Street, Halifax) from now through October 6th, 2019. Performances are Tuesdays to Sundays at 7:30pm and 2:00pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets range in price from $84.00- $30.00. Industry Night is Tuesday, September 17 at 7:30pm and Talkback Night is Wednesday, September 18 at 7:30pm. For Tickets please call 902.429.7070, visit the Box Office in person at 1593 Argyle Street, or buy online at this website.
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