Rehearsal photos released for West End transfer of 1536

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.

1536 first premiered at the Almeida Theatre in May 2025, where it was praised as “funny, saucy, and totally gripping” by the Daily Mail and “effortlessly funny, bold and ballsy” by the Guardian. It was nominated for Best New Play at the 2026 Olivier Awards and also received the 2024 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, a special commendation for the 2023 George Devine Award, and the Stage Debut Award for Best Writer 2025.

Written by Ava Pickett and directed by Lyndsey Turner (Chimerica), the West End production of 1536 stars Liv Hill as Jane (Three Girls – BAFTA Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress), Siena Kelly as Anna (Black Mirror, Adult Material – BAFTA Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress), and Tanya Reynolds as Mariella (Sex Education, A Mirror - Olivier Award nomination Best Actress In A Supporting Role), who are all reprising their previous roles. They are joined by Oliver Johnstone as Richard (Retrograde; All My Sons) and George Kemp as William (High Noon; Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?).

1536 will run from 2 May to 1 August 2026 at the Ambassadors Theatre, with press night on 12 May.

1536 Tickets