PART ONE: 4.5 Stars from Theatre Bloom

“Brave Spirits reconsiders Shakespeare’s Henry IV from a woman’s point of view. That’s how Henry becomes Henri, played with power and gravitas by Annette Mooney Wasno. Wasno’s Henri is not just a woman in a man’s role. She rebuilds the role from the ground up: not a female Henry, but Henriette, Queen of England. Her dialogue is Shakespeare’s text (with a few pronouns and other gendered terms swapped out), but Brave Spirits asks what these lines and these scenarios mean in a woman’s voice. The result is a fresh look at every line of the play.” … read more …