Anne of the Thousand Days

by Maxwell Anderson

This beautiful presentation of the story of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn is played against the well-known historical background of the Court of Henry, and the arrangement of the present acting version follows that used for the Broadway production. As a matter of fact, there is almost no scenery, and the various scenes are played within a single setting in which lights and a half-dozen articles of furniture are all that are used."

Genres: Plays, Historical Fiction, Drama, Classics, Theatre, Classic Literature, Tudor Period

75 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1950

About the author

Maxwell Anderson was an American playwright, poet, and journalist. He won a Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 1933, for Both Your Houses, and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for both Winterset and High Tor.

Several of his plays were adapted into successful movies, including Anne of the Thousand Days and Key Largo.

Reviews

[Bettie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bettie's Books

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting take on the story of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII. Historically inaccurate, for many, many reasons, but I can see why the playwright changed the things he did, and they fit neatly into his narrative. It's a tale of love crossing, of unrequited love turning to hatred at precisely the wrong moment. The story is neatly lyrical, and the characters often have very good quotes. The only thing I'm confused about is the way that the text seperates itself out into weird paragraphing when the characters go into soliloquies. Was this meant to give an idea to the actor of how the speech was to be spoken? Because it didn't work, it just looks weird.

A good play, though. Recommended.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dream role discovered. What a great play that creates such an amazing role in Anne's character. Sure, it's not very historically accurate, but it's still amazing.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

So glad I read this. I’ve seen the movie but hadn’t read the script. I prefer the movie but this was an interesting read.

[priest]

Very, VERY mid

[Brigid · Rating 2 out of 5]

This play is not an honest telling of the relationship between Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII. Though Anne is the title character, the play reads more like an account of Henry's life during this time in their relationship. Important characters are omitted, such as George Boleyn, Anne's brother with whom she was convicted (likely wrongly) of incest. It also portrays Henry as the mastermind behind everything when nearly all historians agree that he was an easily influenced leader and that Thomas Cromwell was much more likely to have been the architect behind Anne's demise. At the same time, it omits nearly any allusion to Anne's strong Protestant beliefs, which were a major facet of her personality and the influence she had on Henry and England as a whole. Likewise strange elements are added to the story for an effect that ends up being lacklustre, such as the idea that Henry and Anne never loved each other at the same time. Some of the conventions are interesting, including the opening and closing scenes, but this play is a watered-down, mediocre accounting of the decade of intense courtship and eventual destruction of the relatioship between two of English history's most fascinating characters.

[Rachel Dalton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anne Boleyn is a dream role for me. I have been obsessed with her for over a decade. A woman who found power at a time in history when women had none. Being a woman WAS her power. I have been besotted with her ever since my dad told me all about a fat king who beheaded two of his six wives.

So in college (when I read this play for the first time), when I learned that there was a play about her that didn't totally demonize her (Shakespeare), I knew I had to get my hands on it.

The clock strikes; I hear your voice in the chimes,
repeating your words when I ask if you love me:
"Always, never, sometimes."

I like this play. It's pretty historically inaccurate (like, really), but the language is so beautiful. I read all Anne's lines aloud to hear how they flowed. It's really, really good writing. It almost makes me forgive the gross number of historical inaccuracies. ALMOST.

Anne is often depicted as either a whore or saint. But the depictions of her that I like the most are somewhere in between. She was fiery, powerful, and conniving, but she was also loving, passionate, and so smart. She was human.

It would have been easier to
Forget you living than to forget you dead.

[Bryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really, really enjoyed this but I could not take it seriously at all, it is so... self-consciously dramatic, like each time there was a choice to be made in what the characters did or said, they always did the most extra thing possible. Which is what I loved about it, but I did not feel like I came away from it with new psychological insight into Anne Boleyn or any of the other characters. (The play also made things which were actually theological and political into personal decisions but I kind of expected that.) I am tempted to see the movie but I might hate it because the play itself leans into misogyny here and there, and I do not trust that the 1969 movie version would lean away -- but I can sort of imagine a modern production of it that really avoids the misogyny (or wraps it more completely in the story) and goes to town with the style, and I would go see that version in a heartbeat.

Even though they were written decades apart in time and by different people, this really reminded me of The Lion in Winter -- the characters spoke to each in very similar ways, and it had the same sort of extraness.

[Bailee Walsh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall there is just so much missing here. It's hard to even try to show this story and this focus or perspective because it's a web of connections; so many factors influencing the history, and factors influencing factors. All the characters are highly reduced, even Anne and Henry though they are evidently the two main characters. I'm not exactly sure what the point of this story is- especially compared to other Tudor/King Henry VIII stories, of fiction and nonfiction. What was Anderson trying to or wanting to say or get across with the play? I'll add that I don't know anything else pertaining to this play- in written format or it's original stage production- only it's 1969 film adaptation and the intent on it being adapted for 21 years.

[Dana Cordelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars for an intriguing play; although the Kindle formatting was erratic and difficult to read (I think the scanning was incomplete and no one proofed it digitally before it was published for Kindle). Still, I would very much like to see this play performed as I believe it'll be much better absorbed live. The drama and the language are very different from the typical Anne-and-Henry love story we see so often in contemporary versions, and I like it. For some reason the animosity and politics of it feels much more authentic.

[Maranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so happy to have finally read the play upon which one of my favorite movies was based! Of course as I read it I believed that Elizabeth Taylor would have made a better Anne opposite Richard Burton as Henry (but I always knew that)! The play is very similar to the movie, with some dialogue altered for the purpose of fitting a film format. I would suggest any Tudor lover or classic film buff read this play!

[Carolyn Page · Rating 4 out of 5]

The psychology of the romance I did not find convincing, but everything else in this play is FANTASTIC. The staging of course is phenomenal, minimalist and great. Needs good lighting techs especially. But the SCRIPT. My goodness, the script. Give Shakespeare a rest in high school English and read THIS.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful play, with wonderful use of language and brilliant characterisation of Anne - the only thing that stopped it from getting five stars were the historical inaccuracies, namely the dates of Henry Percy and Wolsey's deaths.

[Josie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my new favorite book! I felt empathy for every single character...even Henry. Now that's good writing! It also did a good job of filling gaps from Brit Lit.

[Zinaida Natasha Romanova · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the few times where the movie is better than the book. This had too little Anne and not enough about her relationship with Henry VIII.

[Carol Waters · Rating 4 out of 5]

How romantical. But I liked it.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

012613---The book was okay if you wanted a quick and brief overlook of Anne Boleyn and King Henry the eighth. The story was very rushed.

[Martini Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this in every form. Novelization of the movie, movie, and now play!

[Jessica Whittemore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-crafted tale exploring the ways Love and Power are intertwined through a re-imagination of the adulthood of Anne Boleyn.