Review: 1536 (Almeida Theatre)

Review by Sam Waite

⭐️⭐️⭐️

In the year 1536, Henry VIII shocked the nation by having his second wife, Anne Boleyn, arrested and eventually sentenced to death. In the play 1536, debuting at the Almeida Theatre, Ava Pickett casts her eye over the more provincial women of 16th century England, and what shifts this frightening new development might reflect in their own lives.

Set entirely within a hillside clearing in Essex, 1536 follows the daily lives of Anna, Jane, and Mariella, three young women who gather there to share news, to gossip freely, and to take a breather from their stresses. Mariella has inherited the role of midwife, something in which she excels but finds no pleasure, while household servant Anna busies herself with the men of the town – her newest secret affair being thrown into disarray when Jane announcing him as her new arranged husband-to-be.

Over an unbroken hour and fifty minutes, Pickett moves the story from languidly moving sitcom territory to sharp political drama, managing both effectively but creating a significant disconnect between its early and later scenes. A buried resentment between one woman and another plays a key part in the bracing final moments, but doesn’t factor enough into the background of the rest of the play to truly pay off. Another resentment, cast the opposite direction, is more openly apparent, and all the more effective for this reason.

Siena Kelly brings a reckless energy to the role of Anna which suits the freewheeling character, doomed to be brandished a harlot from the first moment we see her – in the throes of passion with a man she will soon learn is betrothed to a dear friend, up against the tree in which the ladies’ initials are carved. Pickett’s use of anachronistic language – and plentiful swearing – is least jarring with Kelly, whose part makes the most sense speaking in such an outrageous manner, and who gels the language shifts nicely with how unorthodox and shocking her character is. Most at ease with the comedy is Sex Education’s Tanya Reynolds, who brings a brusqueness and sense of over-tiredness to perpetually busy Mariella. Reynolds’ role is that of a mediator between two wildly different friends, and she wears that affectionate but frustrated part well.

Timid, traditional, and far less comfortable flinging around F-bombs, Jane is captured superbly by Liv Hill. Hill makes the anachronisms work particularly well for her, honing in on how out-of-place they are for the “good girl” of the group and using the disconnect and discomfort to enhance her performance. Showing in the first scenes a skill for breezy, air-headed comedy, the latter half allows Hill to tear into rage and drama, revealing deeper layers in which she excels.

Director Lyndsey Turner is aware that these meetings, at least initially, have less in common with high-stakes debates and more with a group of friends catching up over a coffee or a cocktail after a hard day’s work. Early scenes are light, breezy, the jokes allowed to be throwaway and unobtrusive, while Turner allows the tensions to become more palpable, the resentments less buried in the latter half, resulting in some truly dynamic moments. As they girls move about Max Jones’ lovely, truly awe-inspiring stage, Turner ensures the tone and their feelings towards one another are never in question.

Not unlike frequent-returner 2:22, Jack Knowles’ lighting design finds the stage within a frame of light which burns brightly to announce each change of scene. While the effect can be dulled through its repeated use, the combination of a blindly exterior and a cut to black within creates a particularly strong final image, supported beautifully by the efforts of movement director Anna Morrissey. Morrissey also acts as intimacy director, allowing for a sense of reality to the bawdy, comical moments in which scenes begin with Jane’s husband-to-be atop Anna, or vice-versa.

While there is plenty to love about this rag-tag trios encounters, and plenty of bold, well-articulated points made about what upheavals within society a change in the highest house would prove to represent, I found myself wishing that these meatier, more politically charged scenes had come that bit sooner. 1536 doesn’t hit the two-hour mark, and certainly it doesn’t feel overlong, but with so much more dynamism in those final scenes and how well each character was introduced, it became more difficult to recall the lighter, less powerful scenes in-between.

A debut playwright, Ava Pickett shows with 1536 an immense amount of skill, and a rich understanding of both her period of choice and the minutiae of her themes. With assured, truly memorable performances from the central trio, 1536 will appeal not only to history buffs, but to anyone seeking compelling stories about women, particularly by writers with something important to say on the topic. Perhaps this production didn’t land fully with this writer, but its surety of vision is a victory unto itself.

1536 plays at the Almeida Theatre until June 7th

For tickets (currently returns only) and information visit https://almeida.co.uk/whats-on/1536-play/

Photos by Helen Murray