Photo: Helen Murray
Writer: Ava Pickett
Director: Lindsey Turner
⭐️⭐️😂⭐️
From the drama and intrigue of the Wolf Hall trilogy and A Man for All Seasons to the musical frivolities of Six, the reign of King Henry VIII continues to grip theatregoers. Playwright Ava Pickett follows this trend with 1536, the title referring to the year in which Anne Boleyn was executed. The play looks at historic events from a very different perspective; it is new writing, tackling age-old issues.
The place is a field in rural Essex, which, in Max Jones’ set design, is overgrown and dominated by the remains of a dead tree. This gives the production a bleak and unforgiving look. Before social media, television, radio and even newspapers, gossip spread far and wide and lowly folk were fascinated by the private affairs of the rich and famous, relating news to their own simper lives. Perhaps little has changed in almost 500 years. As word of Anne Boleyn’s imprisonment in the the Tower of London filters through, women talk of Henry’s Queen as a hapless victim, while men speak of “the great whore”, thereby highlighting the gender divide which Pickett sets out to explore thoroughly and thoughtfully.
Siena Kelly excels as the free-spirited and unapologetically promiscuous Anna. She is unable to resist the sexual advances of the duplicitous Richard (Adam Hugill), even though he is about to marry her best friend, the much more sedate Jane (Liv Hill). These two women meet in the field, along with community midwife Mariella (Tanya Reynolds), who is bitter after being spurned by William (Angus Cooper). The women gossip and catch up on the latest news from London, all of it grim for Queen Anne.
From here, Pickett allows a soap-style plot to drive the play to its dramatic conclusion, leaving herself ample room to expose the cruel injustices of a male dominated society. Her focus is entirely on the three women and her writing includes no sympathy for the men whose actions are inspired by the behaviour of their role model, the King.
Kelly, Hill and Reynolds all give passionate performances, bringing out the individual plights of three very different personalities. They style themselves as modern day Essex girl stereotypes, encouraged by dialogue that is embellished by over-generpus sprinklings of the “f” word. In the play’s early stages, some of their banter is very funny on the level of a sitcom such as Blackadder, but, overall, this proves to be a minor distraction from the writer’s main purpose.
There is more than enough meat to sustain the drama for its 110-minute running time and performing it without an interval helps greatly in building up intensity. Under the assured direction of Lindsey Turner, 1536 moves effortlessly from inconsequential comedy to high drama, leading up to a climax that is memorably powerful.
Performance date: 13 May 2025
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