The Mirror and the Light: RSC Stage Adaptation

by Hilary Mantel, Ben Miles

Hilary Mantel and Ben Miles’ exhilarating stage adaptation of The Mirror and the Light, one of 2021’s must-see theatrical events, and the long awaited conclusion to the Oliver Award-winning Wolf Hall Trilogy.

England, May 1536. Anne Boleyn’s fate has been sealed by a hired French executioner. it now befalls Jane Seymour to deliver King Henry VIII the healthy heir he craves. Thomas Cromwell, the blacksmith’s son from the gutters of Putney, has knocked down everyone in his path: established at the right hand of the king, he is now the second most powerful man in England. But what will you do, an astute witness asks, when the king turns on you, as sooner or later he turns on everyone close to him?

Hilary Mantel’s twice Booker Prize-winning trilogy is the outstanding literary achievement of recent times. Following Oliver and Tony Award-winning productions of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, hailed as a landmark and must-see theatrical event on both sides of the Atlantic, Mantel and Ben Miles have adapted the trilogy’s exhilarating conclusion, The Mirror and the Light, for the stage. It opened in London’s West End in September 2021, directed by Jeremy Herring, co-produced by Playful Productions and the Royal Shakespeare Company, and with Miles returning to the role of Cromwell.

This volume contains the text of the play and an introduction by Hilary Mantel on each of the principal characters – and their fates, offering a unique insight into her trilogy and an invaluable resource to any theatre companies wishing to stage the play.

Genres: Plays, History

176 pages, Paperback

Published September 28, 2021

About the author

Hilary Mantel was the bestselling author of many novels including Wolf Hall, which won the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. Bring Up the Bodies, Book Two of the Wolf Hall Trilogy, was also awarded the Man Booker Prize and the Costa Book Award. She also wrote A Change of Climate, A Place of Greater Safety, Eight Months on Ghazzah Street, An Experiment in Love, The Giant, O'Brien, Fludd, Beyond Black, Every Day Is Mother's Day, Vacant Possession, and a memoir, Giving Up the Ghost. Mantel was the winner of the Hawthornden Prize, and her reviews and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, and the London Review of Books.

Reviews

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the pleasure to watch the play this evening - which was as brilliant as the first two plays and the wonderful trilogy.

[Dominique · Rating 5 out of 5]

No one can write historical fiction like Hilary Mantel. My love for this series unfolds itself again! This had been sitting on my shelf for a while, unread — I wasn’t sure what sort of adaptation of the book it would be, but I shouldn’t have doubted. If ever you could look a terrifyingly huge brick of a novel and be baffled at the idea of adapting it into a play — of course Hilary Mantel managed it, with aplomb. This is a wonderful précis of the book, with all the best scenes. I particularly loved the snatches of new conversation, the turned dialogue, the entries of new characters; and that ending….the way that his father’s ghost was the headsman…the way he said ‘Now get up’…the way that Rafe said ‘Long live the king’ after. Absolute chef’s kiss. Amazing, amazing.

I feel such sorrow all again, that we will never see Hilary write another book. What an unparalleled master of fiction she was!

[Reid Burroughs · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably the best book I will have read in the year 2022. The book is written as a play with each character in the introduction explained in detail. Any student of British History would enjoy this series. Mirror and the Light is the final installment of Wolf Hall. Mantel is a remarkable writer and transparent about what she knows as historical fact and what she adds for conjecture about certain conversations had by many of the characters. I especially find the Cromwell dynasty interesting. Thomas Cromwell’s ascension begins during the the time of the Boleyn influence in Court and by the end of the play this reader was surprised by the sacrifice of Cromwell for the wives of Henry the Eighth. Wolf Hall, Bring up the Bodies and the Mirror and the Light revolve equally around Cromwell but are placed in the path of the Norfolk dynasty. It’s a tragic story of a person who tried making peace in the volatility of British Noble Court life many circumstances put directly out of the main characters hand. RIP Hillary Mantel.

[Mackenzie Elisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised when I walked into the Drama Bookstore and found this! I had no idea it was going to be printed! I think Mantel and Miles did an excellent job of breathing new air into a story that's been told countless times. It was refreshing and engrossing. It was comedic and moving. The stage directions and the narrative map were so well-conceived. The use of contemporary, yet heightened language was beautiful. I just wish I could have seen this production.

Also there are GHOSTS and Mary is written with so much life and conviction!

[Dolly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poor Cromwell after his complex fall from power whilst he grips with ghosts and the ruthless court of Henry Vill.

This concluding book of the trilogy is so masterful prosed that putting it down for rest felt like a sin.
I’m finished with this series yet I feel the portrayal parts still echoes deeply around me.

I shall only conclude that Henry Vill was a disgusting, disabled evil monster.

A must read!

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

The script of the third play in the trilogy. A fast-moving drama, with little of the depth and subtlety of the novel. But a useful reminder of the production, starring the co-author, Ben Miles. The preface features an excellent introduction to the many historical characters, presumably intended for the actors, and penned inimitably by Mantel herself.

[Lydia Mann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous.