Siena Kelly and Liv Hill in 1536 [Helen Murray]

TERRIFIC performances breathe fire into Ava Pickett’s compelling debut play, winner of the 2024 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.

It’s 1536, the year of Anne Boleyn’s death. Across England, people are beginning to feel the influence of King Henry VIII’s patriarchal court, his immorality and cruelty. In rural Essex, three women find their lives affected by the misogyny surrounding the Queen, accused of treason and adultery, and facing execution.

Lyndsey Turner’s striking production opens with Anna (Siena Kelly) copulating with local landowner Richard (Adam Hugill) against a tree.

When she discovers that he is betrothed to her friend Jane (Liv Hill), she must decide where her loyalties lie.

Midwife Mariella (Tanya Reynolds) still carries a torch for her former lover, William (Angus Cooper), now married to someone else.

Wealth and class, Pickett suggests, have played a part in each of their fates. Whatever their dreams or aspirations, women are treated as little more than chattels.

The three meet in an overgrown field – cleverly evoked by Max Jones’ set and Jack Knowles’ lighting – to gossip and share news of the Queen, now widely vilified as the “Great Whore”. But rather than being met with condemnation, the King’s violence towards his wife is shaping other men’s behaviour.

Spirited figures like Anna, determined to carve out their own future, risk being derided as whores, others are accused of witchcraft. As their powerlessness become increasingly clear, cracks appear in the trio’s friendship.

The cast is terrific, in particular the nuanced central performances are beautifully understated.

Pickett, already recognised for her screenwriting, proves herself an accomplished theatrical talent.

Women may warm to the subject more than men, but I heartily recommend this blisteringly good play to all.

Until June 7
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