Anne Boleyn is returning to the Tower of London for a third time 500 years after her execution at the hands of Henry VIII.
She was one of The Tower’s most infamous prisoners who is being brought back to life in a theatrical spectacle for the summer.
Amy Cudden plays the tragic Tudor queen in The Last Days of Anne Boleyn which explores her last 17 days, from her imprisonment and interrogation to trial and execution—and all in the place where it happened.
Anne’s had been one of the most controversial royal courtships in history, when Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church in Rome to marry her and conceive an heir.
She spent the night at The Tower before her coronation in 1533, then returned in 1536 accused of adultery and treason, an extraordinary woman who won and lost a king in the space of three years, but who continues to exert a powerful fascination five centuries on.
The performance uses contemporary sources including her own words from letters to the king and her final speech on the scaffold, drawing on the music, ritual and liturgy of Henry’s Tudor Court for inspiration.
The 35-minute outdoor show is running two performances a day, 11am and 2pm, Friday-to-Tuesday, in the shadow of the iconic White Tower and included in the admission ticket.
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