'Wolf Hall's Premiere Introduces a "Three Card Trick"
Welcome to Wolf Hall, the world of 16th-century politics and intrigue. It is 1529, and the issue of King Henry VIII's first marriage is coming to a head. And, as the opening placard tells us, the king is not a forgiving man.
Cromwell: The rumor is the king has moved on from Mary Boleyn to her flat-chested sister.
Wolf Hall begins as it means to go on, a program that at once overwhelms you with the rich tapestry it presents, while having no inclination towards showy exposition. We begin in the middle of the current power struggles of King Henry VIII's court in the late 1520s. It is only hours before the Fall of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (Jonathan Pryce), Archbishop of York, and almoner to Henry since his ascent to the throne in 1509. This could have been the hour of the Fall itself, as two noblemen stand before Wolsey, demanding he hand over the Great Seal. That is if it hadn't been for the presence and quick thinking of one Thomas Cromwell (Mark Rylance), lawyer to Wolsey and our anti-hero of this piece.
