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

Best New Play, Whatsonstage.com Awards

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.

'The play bursts through the constraints of costume drama. Brenton understands how to work the audience at the Globe...' Independent

'It takes a big, generous spirit to fill the Globe, and in this Brenton follows Shakespeare - not just with asides and soliloquies, but with a large colourful canvas.' Daily Mail

'Anne Boleyn has drama, royalty, sex, scheming... in short, as much entertainment value as a Tudor execution' Time Out