1536 at a glance

Show
1536
Venue
Ambassadors Theatre, West End
Address
West Street, London WC2H 9ND
Nearest station
Leicester Square (2 min walk)
Genre
Historical drama
Running time
1 hour 50 minutes, including one interval
Age guidance
14+ (Key Stage 4 and above)
Dates
2 May – 1 August 2026
Schedule
Mon–Sat 7:30pm; matinees Wed and Sat 2:30pm
Price range
From £72 (typically £72–£180)
Writer
Ava Pickett
Director
Lyndsey Turner

Expert Review: 1536 at the Ambassadors Theatre

4.7
★★★★★

LTH Expert Rating

Reviewed by the London Theatre Hub editorial team. Last updated: 28 April 2026.

The Verdict

Ava Pickett's debut arrives in the West End carrying an unusual weight of expectation. Three major awards, a sold-out Almeida run, an original cast intact, and Margot Robbie's LuckyChap among the producing partners — that combination doesn't happen by accident. What's striking is that the play earns it. 1536 is sharp, funny, and brutally clear-eyed about the cost of being a woman in a society that decides your worth without consulting you. The Tudor setting is a Trojan horse for something far more uncomfortable: a play about now.

Lyndsey Turner directs with the confidence of someone who trusts the script, and rightly so. The dialogue moves between filthy, modern, and genuinely funny, then turns on a sentence to land somewhere darker. By the time the play asks its central question — whether women can stay loyal to each other in a system designed to break that loyalty — you're not watching history. You're watching the news.

What Makes It Special

  • A genuinely award-winning debut. The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize (2024), Best Writer at the Stage Debut Awards (2025), and Most Promising Playwright at the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards (2026) — that's a clean sweep for a first play. Pickett is now co-writing Baz Luhrmann's Jehanne d'Arc film.
  • The original cast, intact. Liv Hill, Siena Kelly, and Tanya Reynolds reprise the roles they originated at the Almeida. The chemistry between the three is what made the first run sell out, and it's the reason the West End transfer carries so much momentum.
  • Modern dialogue, period setting. Pickett writes Tudor women who swear like real people, gossip like real people, and panic like real people. The deliberate anachronism is the point — it collapses the safe distance between then and now.
  • Lyndsey Turner's direction. Turner (Chimerica, Cold War, Hamlet) is one of the most assured directors working in British theatre. The Almeida production was widely praised for the precision of its staging and tonal control.
  • A producing team that commits. Sonia Friedman Productions (Prima Facie, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) and LuckyChap Entertainment (Margot Robbie's company) signal both commercial confidence and creative care.

You'll love 1536 if you...

  • Enjoy plays that are funny and unsettling in roughly equal measure
  • Want to see new British writing that matters now
  • Appreciate strong female ensemble performances
  • Like dialogue that crackles — sweary, modern, and sharp
  • Want to see what the awards bodies are talking about

It might not be for you if you...

  • Prefer light, escapist evenings — this one stays with you
  • Find depictions of misogyny and violence against women distressing
  • Are bringing children — 14+ is the firm guidance
  • Want a traditional, reverent take on Tudor history
  • Avoid plays with strong, frequent profanity

Best for

  • Drama lovers
  • Feminist theatre
  • History buffs
  • Date night
  • 14+ teens (with care)
  • Fans of new writing

Not recommended for younger children or audiences seeking light entertainment.

Critical Reception

1536 received broad critical acclaim during its Almeida Theatre premiere in 2025, with most major UK critics rating it four stars. Reviewers consistently praised Pickett's writing, Lyndsey Turner's direction, and the strength of the central trio's performances. Verified ratings from major publications during the original run:

  • The Guardian ★★★★
  • Time Out ★★★★
  • The Stage ★★★★
  • The Independent ★★★★
  • The Arts Desk ★★★★
  • WhatsOnStage ★★★★
  • Broadway World ★★★★
  • Theatre & Tonic ★★★★★
  • The Telegraph ★★★

Source: published reviews of the Almeida Theatre production, May–June 2025.

Everything You Need to Know

What happens in 1536?

Three women — Anna, Jane, and Mariella — meet in a field in rural Essex, the same place they used to gather as girls. They're unmarried in a society where a woman's survival depends on the men she's tied to: her father, then her husband. They're hungry for news from London, and what they get carries more weight than any of them realise.

News from court

Word arrives of the worsening conflict between Henry VIII and his queen, Anne Boleyn. The court drama is entertainment for these women, but it's also a warning. If a queen can be brought down on rumour and accusation, what protection does anyone else have? The conversations move between gossip, dread, and a grim kind of recognition.

Closer to home

As the royal scandal escalates, a smaller rumour begins to circulate locally. The mechanics start to feel familiar. Gossip travels the same way. Accusations land the same way. Women are blamed the same way. What looked like distant court politics turns out to be a pattern playing out in their own village.

The cost of survival

The play examines how violence against women functions as a system rather than a series of accidents. Whether you're a queen or a country girl, your body is treated as territory in someone else's argument. The women navigate threat, accusation, and shifting alliances, all while trying to hold onto whatever friendship they have left.

Can solidarity survive?

1536 keeps returning to a single question: can women stay loyal to each other when the system rewards them for not being? Friendship under that kind of pressure isn't a given — it's a choice, made over and over, often at real cost. The play doesn't offer comfortable answers.