1536 Tickets

Set in Tudor England against the backdrop of Anne Boleyn's execution, Ava Pickett's bold, original, and funny debut play follows three women in rural Essex and asks the question: just how much have things really changed for women between then and now?

Why you should watch 1536

• 1536 captures and retells an unforgettable piece of history, the execution of Anne Boleyn, through the eyes of three ordinary women, offering a fresh take on a historical event we all know well.
• With cleverness and nuance, it tackles themes of misogyny and barbarism, and female solidarity and feminine rage that feel just as harrowingly relevant to women today.
• Alongside a powerful message and a heartbreaking story, 1536 has a witty, irreverent style of comedy to balance out the darker elements of the story.

What is 1536 about?

Tudor England: Three ordinary women gather in a field in Essex, their childhood meeting place, to trade gossip from London. In the capital, King Henry VIII has ordered the execution of Queen Anne Boleyn, sending shockwaves through England, while closer to home, rumours abound. Would the king really put his own wife to death? Soon the women - midwife Mariella, good girl Jane, and sexually liberal Anna - recognise the parallels between their ordinary rural lives and the royal drama that's consuming the country, forcing them to make choices that inevitably lead to violence. This witty, darkly humorous, and clever play investigates whether female solidarity can survive in a world where misogyny is state sanctioned.

1536 first premiered at the Almeida Theatre in May 2025, where it was praised as “funny, saucy, and totally gripping” by the Daily Mail. It is the debut play of up-and-coming playwright and screenwriter Ava Pickett, was written as part of the Genesis Almeida New Playwrights, Big Plays Programme, and won the 2024 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Audiences and critics alike fell in love with Pickett's and director Lyndsey Turner's unflinching look at how ordinary women were affected by the execution of a queen by her own husband, and the things it revealed to them about their own circumstances. Now London audiences have another opportunity to experience this bold and witty new play about the cyclical nature of history and the plight of women, with a message that feels just as urgent today.

If you missed 1536 the first time around, book now to make sure you catch this powerful new history play.