1536 - Ambassadors Theatre ★★★★★

On a day when the country is absorbed in political machinations, there are conflicts abroad, and the markets are in turmoil, it seems appropriate to pop into London’s West End for a play set nearly half a millennium ago about social unrest, hypocrisy, the power of gossip, and male dominance. For a strictly limited run until 1st August, the Ambassadors Theatre in London is the new home for the successful Almeida Theatre production of 1536. Originally penned by exciting young playwright Ava Pickett as part of the Genesis Almeida New Playwrights (Big Plays Programme) initiative, 1536 was nominated for this year’s Olivier Awards for Best New Play. It explores the themes of female friendship, how behaviour is judged by others and the abusive power of this country’s controlling men. But can this historical drama with a modern edge deliver the same impact and bums on seats as it did to the sell-out audiences it achieved during its run at the Almeida’s intimate theatre last year? Well, 1536 brings with it a terrific script and superb acting; the Ambassadors’ capacity is only a third larger than the Almeida’s and, judging by the audience reaction last night, it is safe to say that this production will be playing to packed houses this summer.

1536 is Pickett’s debut theatrical offering, following her work writing for historical television dramas such as The Great, and it delivered her first award in the shape of the 2024 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. History aficionados will be well aware that 1536 was a year of considerable upheaval in England. This was the year that Henry VIII’s first wife died and when he had his second wife, Anne Boleyn, beheaded for alleged adultery and treasonous behaviour. He consequently went on to marry Jane Seymour less than a fortnight after Anne’s execution and forced Parliament to remove Anne’s daughter, Elizabeth, from the succession. It was a busy year for Henry as he also started to dissolve the monasteries, had to deal with a Catholic revolt in northern England, and cemented his power base by incorporating Wales into the English legal system. Of all these events, it is the incarceration and eventual execution of Anne Boleyn that play out offstage, setting up this play’s narrative arc and dangerous, volatile atmosphere.

There is no curtain shielding the viewer from the action. Set and costume designer Max Jones‘ stage is already placed as if in a clearing somewhere near a village in rural Essex. The rear of the stage is dominated by golden grasses and teasels. There is a small opening cut between them, providing the only access and egress for the characters, and there is a dead-looking tree just to the left of centre. As the auditorium lights go down, the stage is plunged into darkness, only framed at the front by a rectangle of stark white LED strips, symbolic of watching the events through a giant television as the background music intensifies. When lighting designer Jack Knowles‘ warm white and amber lights come up across the stage, and the music of Will Stuart stops, we are voyeurs watching a man and a woman having noisy and enthusiastic sex against the tree.

And so we are introduced by Pickett and the direction of Olivier Award-winning Lyndsey Turner (for Chimerica) to Anna, a woman of seemingly easy virtue, and her lover Richard, whom we immediately judge as an opportunist. Turner brings confidence and ambition to 1536’s staging, creating a show that immediately pulls us into the era of the Reformation. The play takes us through a number of scenes, all set in this hot and secluded clearing and broken by the same audiovisual device used at the start, combining its specially composed music with the darkness framed by harsh LED light. We soon meet the other two women central to the storyline as they come to gossip and share stories with each other at this spot. It’s social media in another age, and their chatter starts with the news from London that Anne Boleyn has been detained against her will on the orders of the king. As well as understanding Anna to be a free-spirited woman who relishes intercourse and the feeling of being desirable to men, we find that her friend Jane is quite the opposite. She’s a daddy’s girl, simple, naïve and virginal; lined up by her father to marry the son of a local farmer. Then there is Mariella, their other friend, who is a young midwife, thwarted in love because of her lowly status. The man she really wants, William, is now married to another woman, now pregnant by him, and Mariella is one of the midwives in this woman’s employ. Pickett’s sassy, smart script is peppered with expletives, snappy one-liners and put-downs as she explores the dynamics of this friendship and the women’s various life situations.

Using the language of today’s Essex girls, on the stage, we witness the female banter directed at one another juxtaposed with reports of misogyny and recrimination in the village. Anna’s vulnerability is exposed by the similarities she shares with the doomed queen. Jane marries one of the eligible misogynists out of ignorance and duty, and it doesn’t end well. Mariella’s casual words are used against her when a terrible event occurs. The friendship is tested and ultimately breaks under the pressure just as news of the queen’s beheading arrives.

In this dynamic production, three talented actors carry the central storyline about female friendship. Siena Kelly (A Doll’s House, That’s Not Who I Am, Force Majeure) is cast as Anna. Kelly’s wonderfully loose and easy body language and carefree air epitomise the spirited country lass. She channels her character’s unashamedness and confidence in her looks and acts wild like the wind. Liv Hill (Alma Mater, The Doctor, Top Girls), as plain Jane, has the ability to convey her character’s simple and compliant nature with her facial expressions. Her features slowly harden and set when the story reaches its final dramatic scene; you feel how her character has been brutalised mentally and physically, and how she has been indoctrinated by the men around her. Meanwhile, unlucky-in-love midwife Mariella is adroitly performed by Tanya Reynolds (The Seagull, A Mirror, The Other Bennet Sister). Reynolds’ sensitive, cautious delivery and contained movements encapsulate the hurt and growing fear her character feels as her character’s small world starts to implode and she starts to lose control. The final powerful scene, played out by Kelly, Hill and Reynolds, is a three-handed, highly charged tour de force.

Two other actors convincingly support this story. Oliver Johnstone (Romans: A Novel, Retrograde, All My Sons) takes the key role of sexual opportunist turned vicious husband. He is roguishly impressive as the seemingly adoring and sexually charged Richard and equally menacing when his character’s true colours are exposed. George Kemp (High Noon, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) takes on the unsympathetic character of wet William. He plays him as written, unhappy with the way his life has turned out and moony for what could have been.

Pickett’s 1536 wonderfully weaves a simple tale of love, deceit, murder, consequences and comeuppances with a backdrop of regicide and male authority. Her well-crafted prose is a joy to behold on the lips of the brilliant cast as they move from humorous wordplay to intense dialogue. This compelling production injects life into the story with deft direction, passionate performances and the skills of a fine team of creatives working behind the scenes.