The historical accounts from King Henry VIII and Queen Anne’s time are steeped in controversy, contradiction, and irony. Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII, was put to death on trumped up charges of adultery and incest. In fact, her husband, frustrated by his wife’s failure to provide him with a son, simply wanted a way out of his marriage. Within days of Anne’s execution, Henry married his third wife, Jane Seymour. The injustice of Anne’s situation, coupled with the obvious hidden agendas and willful ignorance of the people in power make this story irresistibly compelling. In a fresh and remarkably contemporary take on this fascinating story, Patterson captures the intricate web of suspense, intrigue, and complicated human relationships in a script that is at turns hilarious, devastating and disturbing, but ultimately uplifting.
News & Reviews
“Patterson artfully examines not just the inevitability of death, but the rewards to be gained by accepting it with some dignity. Head is everything theatre should be.” —Winnipeg Sun
About the Author
Debbie Patterson is a Winnipeg playwright, director and actor. Trained at the National Theatre School of Canada, she is a founding member of Shakespeare in the Ruins, and served as Artistic Director of the Popular Theatre Alliance of Manitoba. She was the Carol Shields Writer-in-Residence 2012 at the University of Winnipeg and Playwright-in-Residence at Theatre Projects Manitoba in 2013/14. She served as Artistic Associate at Prairie Theatre Exchange from 2012 to 2018 and is currently a member of the PTE Playwrights Unit. Debbie’s plays include How it Ends, Sargent & Victor & Me, the musicals Head, Molotov Circus, and numerous TYA shows for PTE. Patterson is in demand across the country as a consultant on crip aesthetics/accessibility and as a disability dramaturge. In 2016, Debbie became the first physically disabled actor to play the title role in Richard III in a professional Canadian production. She was honoured with the United Nations Platform for Action Committee’s 2014 Activist Award and the Winnipeg Arts Council Making a Mark Award in 2017. In 2018 she was shortlisted for the Gina Wilkinson Prize. She is a proud advocate for disability justice through her work as Founding Artistic Director of Sick + Twisted Theatre. She lives a wheelchair-enabled life in Winnipeg and in a cabin on the shore of Lake Winnipeg with her partner and collaborator, Arne MacPherson.
