Believe the hype. Ava Pickett’s debut play, which shows how Henry VIII’s repudiation of Anne Boleyn echoes down to three 16th-century Essex girls – and by extension to women today – is every bit as arresting and electrifying as it was at the Almeida last year. It’s transferred to the suitably intimate Ambassadors with the alchemically potent acting trio of Liv Hill, Siena Kelly and Tanya Reynolds intact, and with Margot Robbie on board as a producer.
Director Lyndsey Turner again expertly navigates the script’s blend of sweary modern and archaic language and its swings from laugh-out-loud humour to sudden, chilling horror. The play won Pickett – who had previous TV-writing credits on Brassic and The Great - the Standard’s 2025 Most Promising Playwright award along with almost every other comparable prize. She’s now co-writing Baz Luhrmann’s film about Joan of Arc and adapting 1536 for TV. But I urge you to see this story in the theatre where it’s thrillingly, coruscatingly alive.
