AT THE AMBASSADORS THEATRE, LONDON
1536: West End
By Ava Pickett, Directed by Lyndsey Turner
Event details
Sat 2 May - Sat 1 Aug 2026
Following a ★★★★★ sold-out run at the Almeida, 1536 transfers to The Ambassadors Theatre in London’s West End from May 2026.
Written by Ava Pickett, winner of the 2024 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and directed by Lyndsey Turner (Chimerica), this “razor-sharp, darkly comic and blisteringly relevant” (Independent) new play explores the dynamics of female friendship in a world stacked against women.
Kings don’t kill their wives alright? It’s not – it just don’t happen. It doesn’t.
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 and a rise in violence spreads throughout the land, the actions of a queen imprisoned in a tower threaten to cost them everything.
Written as part of the Genesis Almeida New Playwrights, Big Plays Programme, Ava Pickett’s 1536 was commended by The George Devine Award for its “sparkling dialogue and savage undercurrent”.
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Evenings 7.30pm
Matinees 2.30pm
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TEASER TRAILER
(Original Cast)
Production Photos
(Original Cast)
By Helen Murray
Reviews
Original Almeida Production
“Effortlessly
funny”
The Guardian
“Totally
gripping”
Daily Mail
“Bold and
electrifying”
Evening Standard
Creative Team
Ava Pickett
Writer
Ava Pickett
Ava is a writer for stage and screen. 1536 is her debut play. It won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2024 and received a special commendation from The George Devine Award. 1536 was written under commission through the Genesis Almeida New Playwrights, Big Plays Programme.
Television includes: Brassic; Ten Pound Poms; The Great; The Buccaneers.
Lyndsey Turner
Director
Lyndsey Turner
Lyndsey is an Associate of the National Theatre.
For the Almeida: The Treatment; Chimerica (also West End).
Theatre includes: The Witches; The Crucible; Under Milk Wood; Top Girls; Light Shining in Buckinghamshire (National Theatre); After the End (Theatre Royal Stratford East); A Number (The Old Vic); Far Away; Faith Healer; Fathers and Sons (Donmar Warehouse); Hamlet (Barbican); Girls & Boys; Posh; Contractions (Royal Court).
Max Jones
Designer
Max Jones
For the Almeida: A Mirror (also West End).
Theatre includes: Red or Dead (Liverpool’s Royal Court); The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (Chichester Festival Theatre); Ulster American (West End); Between Riverside and Crazy (Hampstead Theatre); Anna Karenina; Long Day’s Journey Into Night; Crime and Punishment; A Streetcar Named Desire; Orpheus Descending (Bunkamura, Tokyo); The Comedy of Errors; The Shoemakers Holiday; The Merry Wives of Windsor (RSC); Jekyll & Hyde (Reading Rep Theatre); Noises Off (Lyric Hammersmith/ West End); Sydney and the Old Girl (Park Theatre); All My Sons (The Old Vic/ Headlong); Meek (Headlong); Close Quarters; Love and Information; Queen Coal (Sheffield Theatres); The House They Grew Up In (Chichester Festival Theatre/ Headlong); Trainspotting (Citizens Theatre); The Hypocrite (RSC/ Hull Truck Theatre); Pride and Prejudice (Regents Park Open Air Theatre/ UK tour); The York Mystery Plays (York Minster); The Crucible; Brilliant Adventures; Miss Julie (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester); Little Shop of Horrors; Educating Rita; Glengarry Glen Ross; Bruised; A Doll’s House; Blackthorn (Theatre Clwyd); Blasted (The Other Room, Cardiff); The Broken Heart; The Tempest (Shakespeare’s Globe); Play Strindberg (Theatre Royal Bath); True West (Citizens Theatre/ Kiln Theatre).
Jack Knowles
Lighting Designer
Jack Knowles
Jack trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama.
For the Almeida: 1536; Patriots (also Broadway/ West End); Spring Awakening; Nine Lessons and Carols: stories for a long winter; The Duchess of Malfi; Three Sisters; Shipwreck; Machinal; They Drink It In The Congo; Boy; Carmen Disruption; Game.
Theatre includes: Sunset Boulevard (Broadway/ West End, Olivier, WhatsOnStage, and Tony Awards for Best Lighting Design); Much Ado About Nothing; Hamlet; Venice Preserved (RSC); Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) (American Repertory Theater/ Kiln Theatre/ West End); London Tide; Romeo and Julie; Top Girls; Barber Shop Chronicles (Knight of Illumination Award); Cleansed (National Theatre); Long Day’s Journey into Night; Best of Enemies; The Importance of Being Earnest (West End); Caroline, or Change (Broadway/ West End/ Chichester Festival Theatre); Beginning (West End/ National Theatre); Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp; The End of History; Instructions for Correct Assembly (Royal Court); Private Lives; Committee (Donmar Warehouse); Light Falls; The Producers; Happy Days; Our Town; Wit (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester); Julie (Internationaal Theater Amsterdam); Salt of the Earth (Venice Biennale); Mary Stuart; The Beacon (Die Staatstheater Stuttgart); 4.48 Psychosis; Happy Days (Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg).
Tim Lutkin
Lighting Design Concept Collaborator
Tim Lutkin
Tim trained at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. He is a creative director and show writer at Walt Disney Imagineering.
For the Almeida: Women, Beware the Devil; The Tragedy of Macbeth; Chimerica (also West End, Olivier Award for Best Lighting Design).
Theatre includes: Timon of Athens; The Rover; Candide; All’s Well That Ends Well (RSC); Back To The Future: The Musical (West End, What’s On Stage Award for Best Lighting Design); Life Of Pi (Broadway/ West End/ Sheffield Theatres/ American Repertory Theater, Tony, Olivier, Outer Critics Circle, and UK Theatre Awards for Best Lighting Design); Fiddler on the Roof; Quiz; Big The Musical; Elf The Musical; The Crucible; Noises Off; The Girls; The Full Monty; Four Quartets; Close To You; Strangers on a Train; Impossible (West End); Coriolanus; Jack Absolute Flies Again; Les Blancs; Under Milk Wood; Anthony & Cleopatra; Salome; The Crucible (National Theatre); A Number; Lungs; Present Laughter (The Old Vic); Twelfth Night (Young Vic).
Other work includes: World of Frozen; Festival of the Lion King (Hong Kong Disneyland); Mickey & The Magician; The Lion King; Marvel Superheroes United; Frozen Celebration; Disney Junior Dream Factory; Disney Tales of Magic (Disneyland Paris); David Blaine Live; Dynamo Live (International tour); Destiny (MGM/ International tour).
Tingying Dong
Sound Designer
Tingying Dong
Tingying trained at LAMDA and is a sound designer, composer, and theatre maker.
As Sound Designer/ Composer: Titus Andronicus; Edward II (RSC); The Little Foxes; Klippies (Young Vic); London Tide; Dear Octopus (National Theatre); The Secret Garden; The Tempest (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); The Crucible (National Theatre/ West End, The Stage Debut Award for Best Creative West End Debut); Lyonesse (West End); In the Ruins of the Big House (Factory International); Quiet Songs (Barbican); Rock ’n’ Roll; The Breach; Folk (Hampstead Theatre); My Son’s a Queer (But What Can You Do?) (UK tour/ West End/ Edinburgh Festival/ The Turbine Theatre, WhatsOnStage Award for Best Off West End Production); A Doll’s House; Scissors (Sheffield Theatres); Twine (The Yard); Macbeth (ETT/ International tour); Black Superhero (Royal Court); Watch on the Rhine (Donmar Warehouse); The Beekeeper of Aleppo (Nottingham Playhouse/ UK tour); War & Culture (New Diorama Theatre); After The End; The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars (Theatre Royal Stratford East); Walking Cats (VAULT Festival, Origins Award for Outstanding New Work).
Film includes: Medea/ Worn; My Last Duchess.
Radio includes: Humane; BURP.
Will Stuart
Composer and Arranger
Will Stuart
For the Almeida:
As Music Supervisor: The Secret Life of Bees.
Theatre includes:
As Composer: Nye; The Corn is Green (National Theatre); Pygmalion (The Old Vic); Noises Off; Good (West End); The Deep Blue Sea (Theatre Royal Bath).
As Arranger and/or Orchestrator: My Neighbour Totoro; The Drifters Girl (Vocal Arranger, West End); A Face in the Crowd (Young Vic); Guys and Dolls; The Band Plays On (Sheffield Theatres); Committee (Donmar Warehouse); Wicked (Neue Flora, Hamburg); Amélie (WERK7 Theatre, Munich).
As Music Supervisor: My Neighbour Totoro (West End); The Drifters Girl (UK tour); Guys and Dolls; The Band Plays On (Sheffield Theatres); A Christmas Carol (Associate, Broadway).
As Musical Director: Standing at the Sky’s Edge (Sheffield Theatres); A Christmas Carol; Mood Music; The Divide (The Old Vic).
Anna Morrissey
Movement and Intimacy Director
Anna Morrissey
Anna works across theatre, opera and film as a movement director, director and intimacy coordinator. She has worked on large scale cultural events such as the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony and We’re Here Because We’re Here led by Turner Prize-winner Jeremy Deller.
For the Almeida:
As Movement Director: Richard III; King Charles III (also West End/ Broadway).
Theatre includes:
As Movement Director: London Tide; Middle; Translations; ANNA; World of Extreme Happiness (National Theatre); Emilia (Shakespeare’s Globe/ West End, Olivier Award nomination for Best Comedy Production); The Winter’s Tale; Pericles (RSC); Imperium; Queen Anne (West End).
Opera includes:
As Choreographer: Jephtha; Rigoletto; Current Rising (Royal Opera House); Amadigi (Garsington Opera); Macbeth (NI Opera/ WNO); Salome; The Flying Dutchman; Noye’s Fludde (NI Opera); Orpheus in the Underworld (Scottish Opera); Manon Lescaut; The Barber of Seville (Opera Holland Park); Hansel and Gretel (Opera North); The Magic Flute (Nevill Holt Opera).
As Director: Last Days (Royal Opera House/ LA Philharmonic); The Barber of Seville (Nevill Holt Opera/ Sage Gateshead); Carmen (Waterperry Opera Festival); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Nevill Holt Opera); Our House is your Home (Royal Opera House).
Film includes:
As Lead Artist: All Together Alone (Royal Ballet).
As Movement Coach: Chuck Chuck Baby.
As Intimacy Coordinator: Wildcat.
Television includes:
As Movement Coach: The Midwitch Cuckoos.
Amy Ball CDG
Casting Director
Amy Ball CDG
For the Almeida: 1536; Rhinoceros; Otherland; Look Back in Anger; Roots; The Years (also West End); Alma Mater; Cold War; Portia Coughlan; Women, Beware the Devil; “Daddy” A Melodrama; Albion; The Hunt; Shipwreck; Dance Nation; Boy.
Theatre includes: Mrs. Warren’s Profession; Dr. Strangelove; Hamnet; Unicorn; Slave Play; Lyonesse; The Hills of California; Jerusalem; Leopoldstadt; Uncle Vanya; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; The Night of the Iguana; Rosmersholm; True West; The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?; The Pillowman (West End); The Son (Kiln Theatre/ West End); Sweat (Donmar Warehouse/ West End); The Ferryman (Royal Court/ Broadway/ West End); The Moderate Soprano (Hampstead Theatre/ West End); The Birthday Party; Consent (National Theatre/ West End); Hangmen (Royal Court/ West End/ Atlantic Theater Company); Berberian Sound Studio (Donmar Warehouse); Stories; Exit the King (National Theatre); White Noise; A Very Very Very Dark Matter (Bridge Theatre); The Brothers Size (Young Vic); Maryland; ear for eye; Girls & Boys; Cyprus Avenue (Royal Court).
Sam Lyon-Behan
Fight Director
Sam Lyon-Behan
For the Almeida:
As Fight Director: 1536; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
As Associate Fight Director: The House of Shades; Hamlet (also Park Avenue Armory, New York).
Theatre includes:
As Fight Director: Macbeth (Shakespeare’s Globe); Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812; Fear of 13 (Donmar Warehouse); The Other Place; Coriolanus (National Theatre); Macbeth (Lyric Hammersmith); 101 Dalmatians; Tambo & Bones (UK tour); £1 Thursdays (Finborough Theatre); Dick Whittington (Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch); Gunpowder Plot (Tower of London); Candida (Orange Tree Theatre); The Omission of the Family Coleman (Theatre Royal Bath).
As Associate Fight Director: Les Misérables; Sister Act; The Phantom of the Opera (West End); Till the Stars Come Down (National Theatre); Heathers (The Other Palace Theatre); Mother Goose (Hackney Empire); Edward II; Love’s Labour’s Lost (Shakespeare’s Globe); The Merry Wives of Windsor (RSC).
Film includes:
As performer: Bugonia; Bad Day at the Office; In the Grey; The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare; Jackdaw; The Marvels.
Television includes:
As performer: MobLand; Black Doves; Red Eye; Masters of the Air.
As Fight Coordinator: London Kills; The Pact; Pobol y Cwm; Hidden/Craith.
Games include:
As performer: Norse; The Elder Scrolls Online.
Edda Sharpe
Dialect Coach
Edda Sharpe
For the Almeida: Look Back in Anger; Roots.
Theatre includes: English (RSC/ Kiln Theatre); The Witches (National Theatre); And Then There Were None (UK tour); Baghdaddy (Royal Court); My Fair Lady (ENO); Oleanna (Theatre Royal Bath/ West End); The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Lyric Hammersmith/ Chichester Festival Theatre); Love, Love, Love; A Doll’s House (Lyric Hammersmith); When the Crows Visit; Approaching Empty (Kiln Theatre); The Other Boleyn Girl; Hedda Tesman (Chichester Festival Theatre); Hobson’s Choice (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester); Switzerland; King Lear (Theatre Royal Bath); Witness for the Prosecution (County Hall); Lions and Tigers (Shakespeare’s Globe); The Graduate (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Anita and Me (Birmingham Rep); East is East (West End); The Rover; Volpone; Wendy and Peter Pan; What Country, Friends, Is This?; The Homecoming; I’ll Be The Devil; The Red Shoes (RSC).
Film includes: Patients of a Saint; Far from the Madding Crowd; The Door; The Anomaly; Kajaki.
Written works include: How To Do Accents.
Edda has also worked on over 20 seasons as Head of Voice and Dialect at the Shaw Festival Theatre, Ontario.
Sabia Smith
Costume Supervisor
Sabia Smith
Sabia studied costume construction and supervision at RADA.
For the Almeida: Look Back in Anger; Roots.
Theatre includes: The Parent Agency (Chester Storyhouse); A Christmas Carol (Northern Stage); Next to Normal (Donmar Warehouse/ West End); The Duchess of Malfi; A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Hakawatis: Women of the Arabian Nights; Midsummer Mechanicals (Shakespeare’s Globe); Ulster American (Riverside Studios); Robin Hood: The Legend. Re-written. (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); The Inquiry (Chichester Festival Theatre); Favour (Bush Theatre); Love and Other Acts of Violence (Donmar Warehouse); Noises Off (West End); Whodunnit [Unrehearsed] (Park Theatre); The American Clock (The Old Vic); Twelfth Night (Wilton’s Music Hall); We’re Stuck! (Shoreditch Town Hall).
Opera includes: Don Giovanni (Lithuania National Opera & Ballet); Aleko; Gianni Schicchi; Gods of the Game: a Football Opera; La Gioconda; The Life and Death of Alexander Litvinenko; Falstaff; Don Carlos (Grange Park Opera); Zauberland (Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord/ Royal Opera House/ La Monnaie / De Munt/ Opéra de Lille/ Lincoln Center, New York/ Opéra de Rouen); The Marriage of Figaro (Royal Academy of Music).
Dance includes: Message In A Bottle (Sadler’s Wells/ UK and International tour); Anne of Green Gables (Sadler’s Wells).
Taiwo Ava Oyebola
Assistant Director
Taiwo Ava Oyebola
Taiwo is an interdisciplinary artist working across theatre, literature and arts and heritage based in London. Their creative practice explores afro-futurity, intimacy and care. Their writing has been performed at the Almeida Theatre, Theatre503 and with Talawa Theatre Company, their poetry has been published by the Poetry Society.
Theatre includes:
As Director: 1961; The Sexiest Woman in the World (North Wall Arts Centre); Talking Stages (Pleasance Theatre).
As Associate and Assistant Director: Shifters (Bush Theatre/ West End); My Father’s Fable (Bush Theatre); Samuel Takes a Break… (The Yard); here, here, here (Theatre Royal Stratford East); MAN IS DI FEAST (Camden People’s Theatre).
