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'Wolf Hall' stage and TV adaptations both arrive in April 2015

The miniseries adaptation of 'Wolf Hall' debuts on PBS on April 5, while the Broadway version of the story officially opens on April 9. 

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Matt Dunham/AP
Actor Mark Rylance, who was the first Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe theatre and plays Thomas Cromwell in the 'Wolf Hall' television series, poses for photographers with the First Folio Shakespeare plays recently discovered in Saint-Omer in France.
  • By Molly Driscoll Staff Writer

Fans of Hilary Mantel’s “Wolf Hall” novels, April is the month for you.

As we previously reported, a PBS miniseries adaptation of Mantel’s books “Wolf” and “Bring Up the Bodies,” which centers on the life of Thomas Cromwell, advisor to the British monarch Henry VIII, is debuting on April 5. It will run until May 10 and stars actor Mark Rylance as Cromwell, Damian Lewis of “Homeland” as King Henry VIII, and Claire Foy as one of Henry VIII’s wives, Anne Boleyn. 

Meanwhile, those who prefer their dramas on the stage can head to Broadway. A stage adaptation of the books, titled “Wolf Hall Parts One and Two,” has been in previews and officially opens on April 9. The stage adaptation is set up in an interesting way – theatergoers can go to the two sections of the show on the same day or attend on separate days. 

Author Mantel took the Man Booker Prize for both “Wolf” and “Bodies.” The title of the third novel in her Cromwell series is reportedly “The Mirror and the Light” but a publication date has not yet been announced, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

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