ANNIVERSARIES

29 JUNE 1613

The Globe theatre burns to the ground

Cannon fire sparks a blaze during a Shakespeare play

It’s fair to say that All Is True isn’t one of Shakespeare’s best-known plays – not least because it’s now more widely called Henry VIII, and is believed to have been co-written with another playwright, John Fletcher. So its first recorded performance – at the Globe theatre on the banks of the Thames in June 1613 – might have sunk into obscurity had it not been for the disaster that brought it to an untimely end.

The production company clearly wanted the play – which centres on Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon – to go off with a