Anne Boleyn

Synopsis

A celebration of a great English heroine, <i>Anne Boleyn</i> dramatises the life and legacy of Henry VIII's notorious second wife, who helped change the course of the nation's history.

Premiered at Shakespeare's Globe in 2010.

<b>Best New Play, Whatsonstage.com Awards</b>

Traditionally seen as either the pawn of an ambitious family manoeuvred into the King's bed or as a predator manipulating her way to power, Anne – and her ghost – are seen in a very different light in Howard Brenton's epic play.

Rummaging through the dead Queen Elizabeth's possessions upon coming to the throne in 1603, King James I finds alarming evidence that Anne was a religious conspirator, in love with Henry VIII but also with the most dangerous ideas of her day.

She comes alive for him, a brilliant but reckless young woman confident in her sexuality, whose marriage and death transformed England for ever.

'This is no dry and dusty history lesson... a witty and engrossing impression of the times that gave birth to our first Elizabethan age, and the subsequent reformation' <i>British Theatre Guide</i>

'The play bursts through the constraints of costume drama'<i>The Independent</i>

'What an absolute delight... a beautifully-written piece of theatre that instantly draws you in into the life and times of both Anne Boleyn and King James I' <i>Whatsonstage.com</i>

Themes

• Anne Boleyn , 1507-1536
• History
• PR6052
• Queens
• Queens--England--Drama