It is rare to see this history play get an outing but it must surely be rarer to see Henry VIII holding an oversized gold phallus and gyrating libidinously with a strap-on dildo on Shakespeare’s own stage.
This is a high-concept version of the Tudor court, awash with daring and bling, from gold toilets to giant inflatable testicles and penises the size of cannons. There is invigorating iconoclasm to Amy Hodge’s direction and Georgia Lowe’s gold and purple set design, but it feels like a strained bid to give this play a sexy makeover. It is a relief when the phalluses are put away but it does not entirely work even then.
