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![\"MIKAELA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/4089810_web1_28335470_191010-JEN-TRIES-0024.jpg\")
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MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n
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Fight director Jacquie Loewen choreographs violence in the royal court for The Last Wife.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In The Last Wife, that buildup occurs in the court of King Henry VIII (Cory Wojcik), whose matrimonial track record is as well known as it is horrific. Playwright Kate Hennig\u2019s script picks up after the beheading of Katherine Howard, Henry\u2019s penultimate wife, and introduces us to his sixth and final, Katherine Parr (Amelia Sargisson), named in the program as Kate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe violence, in this case, is in the lead-up and the intention and the attitude,\u201d says Loewen, who for years performed as a member of the award-winning comedy troupe Hot Thespian Action.<\/p>\n
\u201cA violent movement could be something that\u2019s technically, incredibly simple, but when it is specific and precise \u2014 a physical action that comes out of a rising tension \u2014 then that violence, I think, dramaturgically, is much more graceful.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I started this job\u201d \u2014 her first gig was RMTC\u2019s Romeo and Juliet in 2011 \u2014 \u201cI was like, \u2018OK. You\u2019ve got punches, slaps, kicks and hair-pulls: let\u2019s put those tools to good use.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd now I understand (that fight choreography) can be the very quick step of a man in front of a door as a woman is trying to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd now I understand (that fight choreography) can be the very quick step of a man in front of a door as a woman is trying to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the kind of violence that permeates The Last Wife, says Loewen, who worked with fellow University of Winnipeg theatre alum Wojcik to imbue Henry, whom Loewen compares to an aging lion, with a potent sense of physical authority.<\/p>\n
In one scene, as Kate walks by, Henry grabs her roughly and pulls her toward him as he carries on speaking.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn that move, nobody will get physically hurt \u2014 it\u2019s not technically difficult \u2014 but we worked on it for an hour and a half, because it\u2019s about figuring out where that violent quality is within that,\u201d says Loewen, who will direct the University of Manitoba theatre program production of Caryl Churchill\u2019s Mad Forest from April 1 to 4 ($12 at eventbrite).<\/p>\n
\u201cIn The Last Wife, the question is always about how dominance is being asserted. People will always talk until they can\u2019t anymore, and then something physical has to happen. I think that bridge between the two is the most delicate part,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomebody once told me that the fight begins when the words run out. So in a play like this, it\u2019s about working two or three minutes ahead of that to get the violence to mount, until the words are no longer sufficient and that dominance has to be physical.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t DYLAN HEWLETT PHOTO<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre\u2019s The Last Wife tells the story of King Henry VIII (Cory Wojcik) and his sixth and last wife, Katherine Howard (Amelia Sargisson).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n That differs from Holland, which traded in more direct communication of onstage violence, softened by comedic edges.<\/p>\n \u201cIn that case, I wanted to be able to create images the audience could see and read that come in a particular tempo, subverting the images that came before,\u201d she says. \u201cTo make the fights intentional, then to change the pace and the quality, I can\u2019t think of a better way to describe it than as being made of right angles.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you think about the Road Runner, it\u2019s funny because he runs straight, looks down and falls straight at a 90-degree angle,\u201d says Loewen. \u201cThe comedy is in his moment of realization and his quick change of direction.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn The Last Wife, a drama, the violence that happens is on a curve.\u201d<\/p>\n winnipegfreepress.com\/benwaldman<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\tDish<\/p>\n Every Second Friday<\/p>\n The latest on food and drink in Winnipeg and beyond from arts writers Ben Sigurdson and Eva Wasney.<\/p>\n \t\t\tSign up for Dish<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t Ben Waldman Ben Waldman is a National Newspaper Award-nominated reporter on the Arts & Life desk at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Ben completed three internships with the Free Press while earning his degree at Ryerson University\u2019s (now Toronto Metropolitan University\u2019s) School of Journalism before joining the newsroom full-time in 2019. Read more about Ben<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Ben produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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