Learn about the history behind Ava Pickett's play '1536'

Ava Pickett's award-winning play follows three women in Essex against the backdrop of Anne Boleyn's downfall.

Summary

• Queen Anne Boleyn was executed on charges of treason in 1536
• Ava Pickett's play explores the effect of this shocking event on three friends in Essex
• 1536 plays at the Ambassadors Theatre from 2 May to 1 August

1536 is remembered as a notorious year in history, as it was the year in which the vivacious Anne Boleyn, the second and most mythologised wife of Henry VIII, was beheaded for treason. It was a truly shocking end to a marriage that had begun with a king’s obsession, in which he broke away from the authority of the Roman Catholic church, kicking off a chain of events that ultimately led to a full religious reformation.

In Ava Pickett’s play, directed by Lyndsey Turner, the drama of the royal court takes place off stage, with fragments and rumours of events in London reaching three friends in rural Essex. The king sets an example and “ordinary” men inevitably follow his lead. Read on to learn more about the context behind this historical play written in modern language and with a very contemporary resonance.

Book 1536 tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk.

What happened in the lead-up to 1536?

Unsurprisingly, Henry VIII is at the centre of the proceedings. The son of Henry VII (the first Tudor monarch, who won the crown on the battlefield) and his wife Elizabeth of York, Henry was born a second son, but he became heir to the throne following his brother Arthur’s death. He became king at the age of 18 and was regarded as a real golden boy, who was educated, athletic, generous, and handsome. He had his perfect queen in the form of the truly regal Catherine of Aragon, and the marriage was a happy and devoted one for many years.

However, Henry and Catherine only had one surviving child, a daughter, Mary. In a nutshell, Henry began to lobby for an annulment on the grounds that Catherine was his brother’s widow and the marriage was therefore invalid, though Catherine swore that her first marriage had never been consummated. Around 1526, he fell in love with Catherine’s maid of honour Anne Boleyn, who refused to be his mistress. Henry and Anne were married in 1532 and had a daughter, Elizabeth, but the marriage turned fatally sour.

You can learn more about Tudor history and culture in our article about the history behind the musical SIX here. If you're intrigued by this fascinating historical period, why not see both shows and compare and contrast?

What happened in 1536?

This turbulent year in English history included the following events:

7 January: Catherine of Aragon dies at the age of 50 at Kimbolton Castle, Cambridgeshire. The cause of death was probably cancer, but rumours circulate about her having been poisoned.

24 January: Henry VIII is seriously injured following a fall from his horse at a jousting event at Greenwich Palace. He is unconscious for two hours and his ulcerated leg injury undoubtedly contributed to the physical pain and paranoia that he experienced for the rest of his life.

29 January: Catherine of Aragon’s funeral takes place at Peterborough Cathedral (her daughter Mary is forbidden from attending). Anne Boleyn suffers a miscarriage on the same day.

February: Henry begins sending gifts and making overtures to Anne’s maid of honour Jane Seymour.

End of April: Mark Smeaton (a court musician), noblemen Sir Henry Norris, Sir Francis Weston, Sir William Brereton, Sir Thomas Wyatt, and Anne’s brother George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford are arrested (the latter on charges of incest as well as treason).

2 May: Anne is arrested and taken to the Tower of London.

12 May: Smeaton, Weston, Norris, Brereton are tried and found guilty (Wyatt never stood trial and was eventually released).

15 May: Anne and George Boleyn are both tried in the Tower of London and found guilty.

17 May: Smeaton, Norris, Weston, Brereton, and George Boleyn are executed. Anne is stripped of her title of Queen of England and her marriage to Henry is declared null and void. Their daughter Elizabeth is proclaimed illegitimate and removed from the line of succession.

19 May: Anne Boleyn is executed on Tower Green. She is buried in an unmarked grave in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London. Henry and Jane Seymour confirm their betrothal the following day.

30 May: Henry and Jane are married at the Palace of Whitehall. 18 months later, Jane dies following the birth of the future Edward VI.

What is 1536 (the play) about?

This series of events is incredibly tragic and dramatic. It involves a shocking miscarriage of justice (there’s virtually no doubt that Anne Boleyn was innocent of the trumped-up charges against her), and an unprecedented example of the capital punishment of a noblewoman (a queen, no less - Katherine Howard, Lady Jane Grey, and Mary Queen of Scots would all later suffer the same fate). A mythology around Anne Boleyn, with her intelligence, glamour, and dignity in the face of death, quickly sprung up. The anti-Boleyn faction, however, remained as hostile as ever.

But how did all of this affect the common folk? 1536 is set in rural Essex, where three very different friends – Anna, Jane, and Mariella – gather in a field to share news and gossip. The actions of those in power have always had a trickle-down effect on the populace, and Henry VIII could be considered the ultimate “influencer” of his time. According to the laws of the time, a wife found guilty of killing her husband would be convicted of “petty treason” and burned at the stake. However, if a husband killed his wife, it was an entirely different matter.

When Ava Pickett’s play premiered at the Almeida Theatre in 2025, LondonTheatre.co.uk’s reviewer awarded it a 4-star review and noted that it is “a visually arresting production, and Pickett is a new voice to listen out for”. Pickett received the 2024 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the award for Best Writer at the 2025 Stage Debut Awards, and a special commendation from The George Devine Award for 1536. Also in 2025, her contemporary adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma was highly acclaimed at the Rose Theatre Kingston. She is currently working with Baz Luhrmann on the film Jehanne d’Arc.

1536 transfers to the West End’s Ambassadors Theatre in May. Pickett says: "It's hard to talk about 'inspiration' for the play, as to be honest, 1536 was written in response to the never-ending stories in the news about violence against women… the world we live in has not changed as much as we are made to believe, because what happens in the corridors of power still bleeds down, as it always has.”

Book 1536 tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk.

Photo credit: 1536 (Helen Murray)