1536
Ava Pickett’s 1536 at The Ambassadors Theatre is disguised as historical drama, but what unfolds is something far more unsettling. Set in the lead up to Anne Boleyn’s execution, the play follows three women attempting to survive within a society that shifts overnight from fascination to suspicion. A play about fear, surveillance and the fragility of female solidarity that feels frighteningly contemporary. From the opening moments, the production creates the sensation that danger is already in the room, quietly spreading between conversations, glances and half finished rumours. The intimacy of the Ambassadors only intensifies this feeling as the action plays out. There is no safe distance from the characters, the audience becomes trapped inside their world.
Liv Hill gives Jane extraordinary emotional depth. Her performance is beautifully restrained, allowing vulnerability to emerge even when she’s not speaking. There is a constant sense of calculation behind her silences and you see how her character progresses through the piece. Hill captures the exhaustion of someone trying to remain morally intact inside a system designed to destroy certainty. Her characterisation of Jane is beautiful with so much truth behind her eyes.
Tanya Reynolds delivers the production’s most unexpectedly devastating performance as Mariella. Reynolds understands Mariella’s role within the play and executes her perfectly, balancing dark comedy with aching loneliness. Mariella’s wit becomes a defence mechanism, her impulsiveness a response to a world closing in around her. Reynolds makes every emotional shift feel spontaneous and painfully real and by the final act she becomes almost unbearable to watch in the best possible way.
Siena Kelly’s Anna burns with restless intelligence and suppressed fury. Kelly gives the character sharpness, creating someone who understands exactly who she is and has to adapt herself for others whilst refusing to change and disappear quietly. Her scenes crackle because Anna never seems entirely predictable, even moments of warmth feel edged with danger. Kelly commands the stage with magnetic confidence while revealing the terror underneath it. The casting for this show is pure perfection. The supporting performances deepen the sense of instability running through the production. Oliver Johnstone and George Kemp avoid playing the stereotypical villains, instead presenting them as men shaped and warped by the same oppressive and aggressive system. Their performances are often charming until suddenly they are not, which makes the atmosphere feel even more threatening.
Ava Pickett’s writing is astonishingly alive. The dialogue moves with a modern pulse, packed with aggressive and fruitful language that you wouldn’t usually associate with a period piece, allowing the characters to speak with immediacy rather than historical stiffness. Every exchange carries multiple layers, humour masking fear and affection hiding resentment. The result is a script that feels less like a retelling of history and more like a study of how ordinary people behave when power becomes unstable and truth becomes dangerous. Nobody in 1536 is entirely safe, trustworthy or innocent.
Lyndsey Turner’s direction is masterful in its control of rhythm and space. Conversations overlap, pauses linger and the moments of calm slowly tighten into panic. Turner understands that the play’s terror lies not in spectacle but in uncertainty. The audience watches the characters trying to interpret shifting political moods in real time, aware that one wrong assumption could destroy them and that tension never releases. Max Jones’s minimalist design transforms the Ambassadors Theatre into a space that feels exposed and watchful. Set in an overgrown field, the emptiness makes a backdrop for all the drama.
What ultimately makes 1536 extraordinary is the way it shows the distance between past and present. The play explores how quickly public opinion turns cruel, how fear spreads socially and how women are forced to negotiate survival inside systems built to control them. These emerge naturally through character and emotion, which gives the production its devastating power. By the closing moments, the audience is left in total silence. Not the polite quiet of appreciation, but the kind that follows genuine emotional shock. 1536 does not simply revisit Tudor history; it interrogates the mechanisms of power that continue to shape modern life. This is one of the most urgent and unforgettable productions currently in the West End. Easiest five stars I have ever given!
This show was reviewed on the 13th May 2026 at The Ambassadors Theatre, London where it runs until the 1st August 2026. Tickets available here : 1536 | New Play by Ava Pickett | Ambassadors Theatre 2026
Review written by Sam Sadler
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Photo credit: Helen Murray
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