Critically acclaimed and award-winning production of 1536 to transfer to West End
1536, the “electrifying” (The Standard) historical drama with a modern edge, will transfer to the West End following a sold-out run at the Almeida Theatre.
Running from 2 May to 1 August at the Ambassadors Theatre, this must-see new play is “effortlessly funny, bold and ballsy” (The Guardian). Casting for the production will be announced in due course.
Directed by Lyndsey Turner, this “razor-sharp, darkly comic and blisteringly relevant” (The Independent) play explores the dynamics of female friendship in a world stacked against women.
1536 is writer Ava Pickett’s first play, which won her 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. She is currently co-writing, alongside Baz Luhrmann, his Jehanne D'Arc film.
Ava Pickett said: “It’s hard to put into words how much this whole process has meant to me so I’m going to resort to cliché and say it’s beyond my wildest dreams – which still feels a bit like I’m downplaying it.
“I’m such an example of what can happen when people get in your corner early and so I just want to thank everyone at the Almeida Theatre and Genesis for developing it and putting it on in the first place and then thank you so much to Sonia Friedman for coming in with such enthusiasm and belief in it and wanting to bring it into the West End - I really am still pinching myself!
“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. It asks the question if a King can kill his wife in a palace, how does that impact three working class women in Essex? Because 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.
“So what a privilege it is to be able to bring Anna, Mariella and Jane to more audiences in all their complicated, funny, dark, desperate glory”.
Kings don’t kill their wives, right?
Tudor England.
A field in Essex.
Three women hurry to their childhood meeting place, thirsty for gossip from London.
Word spreads of a clash between King Henry VIII and his Queen, Anne Boleyn. And closer to home, another rumour begins to catch fire.
As these women begin to see echoes of the royal drama in their own rural lives, a tide of violence threatens their very existence, and they realise the royal scandal could cost them everything.
The creative team for 1536 also includes set and costume designer Max Jones, lighting designer Jack Knowles, sound designer Tingying Dong, movement and intimacy director Anna Morrissey, composer and arranger Will Stuart, and casting director Amy Ball CDG.
