Bringing Henry VIII’s
famous wife back to life

A play that dramatises a fascinating period of our history from a rather different angle opens at The Stables Theatre tonight (Friday 8 May) and runs until next Saturday (10 May).
Anne Boleyn at The Stable Theatre, Hastings SUS-150605-071858001Anne Boleyn at The Stable Theatre, Hastings SUS-150605-071858001
Anne Boleyn at The Stable Theatre, Hastings SUS-150605-071858001

It celebrates a great English heroine, Anne Boleyn, depicting the life and legacy of Henry VIII’s notorious second wife, who helped change the nation’s history.

Traditionally Anne Boleyn is seen as either the pawn of an ambitious family or as a predator manipulating her way to power; but in Howard Brenton’s epic play Anne, and her ghost, are presented in a very different light.

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Rummaging through the dead Queen Elizabeth’s possessions on coming to the throne in 1603, King James I discovers alarming evidence that Anne, the dead Queen’s mother, was a religious conspirator, in love with Henry VIII but also with the most dangerous ideas of her day. She “comes alive” as a brilliant but reckless young woman confident in her sexuality, whose marriage and death transformed England for ever.

A Stables Theatre production directed by Michael Boakes and starring, among others, Sinead Phelps, Laurie Brook Summers, Stuart Miller, Peter Mould, Ian Clemen and Michael Wilson.

Adults £12.50 · Members, under-18s and groups £7.50 · £2 off first-night and Sunday tickets. Call the box office on 01424 423221