Anne Boleyn – Hever Castle – Saturday 9th August 2025

(Rated 4/5) ‘Anne Boleyn was his second wife, He swore to cherish her all his life, But seeing a third he wished instead, He chopped off poor Anne Boleyn’s head…’ To any non-Tudor fans, or those with little knowledge of history being the second of King Henry VIII’s Six Queen’s and being beheaded on his order (‘Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived’) are likely the only two of three key things they know about Anne Boleyn. That and being the owner of the womb, which carried Queen Elizabeth I! But who was she really? Well, to be fair, none of us can really know for sure. But she tends to be portrayed as conniving, scheming, fiery-tempered, ruthless, strong-willed, ambitious, a temptress, selfish, a slim-build Tudor beauty with a love of the French fashion of the time and having a ‘very small neck’. The last likely the case as she reportedly said as much herself, and in facing the executioner’s sword it is a testament to her wit even in such a dark moment! The rest – the reporting of others – their perceptions of her and perhaps clouded by their own agendas?

I am an out and proud Tudor fan. And Anne Boleyn is the mother of my favourite Queen. So, I lap up all things related to her and her daughter in any way. To see a musical of her life story set in the grounds of her childhood home of Hever Castle was a very quick ‘Yes!’ Full disclosure, I have already given you spoilers to the most famous aspects of Anne’s herstory and this review will contain added spoilers to some maybe lesser-known aspects as well as spoilers of the staging and happenings (historical or not) in the musical, so if you’re bothered about that, I suggest you stop reading now 😉

It's quite a long-walk from the Lake View car park – with its not-quite view of the lake 😉 – to the purpose-built Historalia auditorium – roughly a third of a mile taking you through beautiful gardens so, aside from dealing with arthritic lower limbs in my case, it was very pleasant. You get given your headsets for the binaural sound as you enter the auditorium. I’m a little used to that after the most recent Macbeth I saw with David Tennant, and I couldn’t help thinking looking around after everyone had put theirs on, that we all resembled cybermen crossed with Princess Leia, with blue light buns as our ears 😉 The music from the choir and orchestra were pre-recorded, but all the individual characters were singing live, with little mics attached to their foreheads.

Appropriately, as we sit waiting, the first person we see is Emily Lane as Anne Boleyn (unmistakable with her ‘B’ necklace) walking as though from backstage right across the lawn in front of the castle onto the stage. I immediately felt my eyes welling up. Here is someone embodying Anne Boleyn in her childhood home. Perfectly poignant. And that is where she starts her story – with her father Thomas Boleyn (Clive Hayward), brother George (as an adult played by Joshua Oakes-Rogers) and a character Joan (of whom I’d never heard but played by Kim Ismay). Google tells me the Boleyns had a servant named Joan Wilkinson, who was a silkwoman and Protestant reformer. In this production Joan is used a great deal as a confidante to Anne right throughout, which I imagine she wouldn’t have been allowed to be in reality, but it’s a lovely helpful device 😊 It’s also an indication that the creators – Rebecca Night (writer and co-lyricist), Sam Kenyon (co-lyricist), Sam Gevers (composer) and Roxana Silbert (director) - have really done their research. More on that later.

For me Emily’s Anne was immediately different to the stereotype. Emily is fuller in the face (compared to the famous Hever portrait of Anne), and in manner there’s an added warmth, huggability (yes, I wanted to hug her!) or maybe better expressed as cuddliness and this Anne as she contemplates being Queen “If I Were Queen” really wants to make a difference and help her subjects. If this take on her story is to be believed – and the research done by the creators would suggest it is – she genuinely had compassion for the predicaments of her subjects as Queen. In 1536 the first Poor Law was passed and had been championed by Anne. In addition, this production suggests she played a more significant part in the reformation than perhaps most historical reports would have us believe. And I guess here is where you might ask who is right? I read a couple of reviews before going, which suggested her part was exaggerated – but how do they know?! Watching ‘The Chase’ yesterday – bear with me! – there was a mention of theatre critics who sit in the aisles so that they can escape early and don’t bother to give the full performance a chance – to be honest, I feel a little as though maybe I was reading those. Laziness! They also mentioned how a lot is packed in – racing through Anne’s story. But, yes, to cover her entire life, how else do you do it. And in true musical style every song and scene had their key messages and covered the crucial chapters in Anne Boleyn’s life. (For interest see synopsis & song list). Also for me, that we see so much of each stage of Anne’s life – from reluctance to leave home, her experiences and education in the courts of Margaret of Austria in Mechelen, Belgium and then in the court of France, exposure to the Renaissance arts and humanist thinking – she may even have met Leonardo da Vinci – and all of that even before she returns home and heads to the English court – creates much more empathy for and understanding of her. She was so clearly well-liked, ‘I find her so presentable and so pleasant…’ (Margaret) and ‘For her behaviour, manners, attire and tongue, she excelled them all’ (Lancelot de Carles). She was clearly witty and intelligent and embraced all she learned. She also learned sadly - through meeting with Wolsey (Clive Hayward again) and his prevention of her betrothal to Henry Percy (Chomba S. Taulo, who has an outstanding singing voice, which he also gives to the highly significant characters of Matthew Parker and Bishop Fisher) – that she would have to be strong and assertive. As someone dealing with being the wife of controlling and bullying Henry VIII and in Tudor Times, that would then so likely lead her to be considered difficult, a problem, or even worse, but for me this Anne Boleyn, and the real Anne Boleyn was surely a Tudor Woman of Substance and indeed, if she had been allowed to live, and the likes of Thomas Cromwell (Matt Bond) and Henry VIII himself (Mark Goldthorp), hadn’t felt threatened by her, what a difference she could have made to England. But, thanks to her, we had Queen Elizabeth I and what a difference she DID make to England and beyond. I will return to this.

For me – as with many musicals – I think they need to be seen and heard over a few times to get all the numbers. I could do a better review if I got that opportunity, but I imagine this is unlikely to get a transfer to the West End, and, of course, wouldn’t be the same! Some numbers felt so powerful lyrically though; “If I were Queen”, “Make It Happen” and “To Catch the Light” for example. We enjoyed the gold fanography by Queen Katherine of Arragon (Noah Sinigaglia) and her ladies accompanying “We are Queens”, but for me the lyrics were lame. “The King is Coming” came across as a little bit Monty Python-esque! Though the grey horse he was riding was exceptionally beautiful! And there were definitely some historical inaccuracies (Henry wasn’t the King of Great Britain), and some awful dialogue at points. In that sense it was such a bizarre mix of supremely good to pretty bad! Overall effect though of impressive outweighing rubbish 😉

Cromwell was back to his very stereotypical self, and a far cry from Hilary Mantel’s sympathetic “Crumb” in ‘Wolf Hall’. Mark Goldthorp very much reminded me of Damian Lewis’ Henry VIII in looks, but not such a nuanced actor – a bit too 2D in his swings from romantic suitor to bully. As already mentioned, I was impressed by Chomba S. Taulo. Everyone else was fine enough. Emily Lane was gorgeous as Anne – exquisite singing and a lovely performance. She doesn’t quite feel like my internal image and imagination of Anne Boleyn though, but a very adorable one!

In her final scenes Anne was dressed in white, gold and purple. As was I! My white top with gold sequins is now officially my Anne Boleyn top 😊 How did I know? Like how did I know to dress all in black – aside from my red sparkly boots – for ‘Kinky Boots’?! I like to think I’m somehow in tune. Oh, though as we were warned, it gradually became pretty cold, so over my in-tune-with-Anne Boleyn outfit, I wore my Alanis hoodie for the second act! Alanis kept me warm 😊 And here is I guess the biggest spoiler and historical inaccuracy of the night. Elizabeth was only 2 years & 8 months old when her mother was executed. Yet she appears with Anne at various points looking more like 5-6 years old. AND, most movingly from my point of view, after the symbolic execution of Anne, Elizabeth as a adult (Dona Atallah) walks a similar path to the one Anne Boleyn walked onto the stage at the beginning appearing behind her mother, and carrying on her mother’s legacy of light and substance into The Golden Age.

Elizabeth, Being the Daughter of Anne Boleyn P.S. We visited the Castle itself the next day. On arrival, there was another Anne Boleyn! Not musical Emily, and I regret I didn’t ask her name. She was lovely though and agreed to a pic together after I told her how amazing she looked – she in her beautiful Tudor dress, me in a jumpsuit 😉 Inside, was very busy with people – August and the month of the musical too so no surprise – so we kind of raced through. A real shame in a sense. But I was pleased to get to see Anne Boleyn’s ‘Book of Hours’ and Prayer Book, many portraits including of course the Hever Anne Boleyn and ‘Wolf Hall’ costumes currently on display there. Some of the rooms as original and some adapted for display I think. Very windy stairs again difficult to negotiate with arthritic limbs. But I did it! For merch I got Hever Anne Bear and her Hever portrait as a fridge magnet! 😊 Anne Boleyn – Review by TheRestrictedReviewer © 2025