Awards

• Joint winner of Best Writer, Stage Debut Awards 2025
• Winner of Most Promising Playwright, Critics' Circle Theatre Awards 2026
• Winner of Most Promising Playwright, London Standard Theatre Awards 2025
• Winner of Susan Smith Blackburn Prize 2024

Overview

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Reviews

'Electrifying... bold, idiosyncratic and disturbingly funny... a terrific debut' * Evening Standard * 'Razor-sharp, darkly comic and blisteringly relevant... a love letter to female friendship and a sharp dissection of how systemic misogyny deforms even the most intimate bonds... Pickett, a rising voice in British theatre, has written a script that is lean but dense, rich in vernacular and laced with wit. It crackles with crude yet charming dialogue... pulls the past into the present with unflinching clarity and bitter humour... The result is a play that feels vital and gripping. With its killer laugh-out-loud one-liners, pitch-perfect performances, and chilling observations, 1536 isn't just a period piece; it's a call to arms, dressed up as a comedy' * Independent * 'Effortlessly funny, bold and ballsy' * Guardian * 'What a joy it is to be at the birth of a really good play. Ava Pickett's 1536 is one such: a simple yet super-smart concept, a wonderfully vibrant script and a host of resonant themes... a cracking debut' * Financial Times * 'Original and exciting... The cleverness of the play is the way it refracts some of the most famous events in history through the lives of unknown women, and in the process paints a portrait of a society where a King's actions validate the behaviour of men, encouraging them to treat women as disposable things... the dialogue is wonderfully supple and lively... it marks Pickett as a real talent to watch' * WhatsOnStage * 'Effervescent and extremely funny' * Telegraph * 'A fascinating feminist hybrid of EastEnders, Samuel Beckett and Wolf Hall... The engine of the play is Pickett's superb dialogue and the sweary, lairy modern language chats the women have... tremendous... a droll and perceptive period piece that's also a searing and unsettling contemporary feminist drama... we should all listen' * Time Out * 'Vividly engaging... the writing has compelling dash and flair, the dialogue, deliberately at odds with the 16th-century setting, packed with lively humour and sweary anachronism, and the characters drawn with engagingly pungent authenticity... leaves you eager to see where Pickett's theatrical imagination might take her next' * The Stage * 'A phenomenal piece of theatre... The script is outstanding. Pickett has written three women who are clearly rooted in the 16th century in which the play is set – but their language and interactions are completely contemporary... it issues an important warning that resonates across the ages' * Theatre & Tonic * 'Compelling and accomplished... a fresh and timeless story told through a unique historical lens' * West End Best Friend *

'Remarkable... the West End hit of the year... Fresh, funny and devastating' * Telegraph * 'Astonishing... 1536 is a once-in-a-blue-moon theatrical experience. I laughed. I cried. I probably could have screamed too... Pickett's play is a tour de force' * Time Out (2026) * 'Razor-sharp, darkly comic and blisteringly relevant... a love letter to female friendship and a sharp dissection of how systemic misogyny deforms even the most intimate bonds... Pickett, a rising voice in British theatre, has written a script that is lean but dense, rich in vernacular and laced with wit. It crackles with crude yet charming dialogue... pulls the past into the present with unflinching clarity and bitter humour... The result is a play that feels vital and gripping. With its killer laugh-out-loud one-liners, pitch-perfect performances, and chilling observations, 1536 isn't just a period piece; it's a call to arms, dressed up as a comedy' * Independent * 'Electrifying... bold, idiosyncratic and disturbingly funny... a terrific debut' * Evening Standard * 'What a joy it is to be at the birth of a really good play. Ava Pickett's 1536 is one such: a simple yet super-smart concept, a wonderfully vibrant script and a host of resonant themes... a cracking debut' * Financial Times * 'The hype is justified... Pickett's dialogue nails her protagonists' teasing intimacies and friendly rivalries from the off... then slowly but surely tightens the noose' * The Times * 'Effortlessly funny, bold and ballsy' * Guardian * 'Blistering and brilliant... incredibly dark... lean and dangerous... riotously funny... It's a bold, essential piece of theatre... the perfect play for the present day' * WhatsOnStage * 'A fascinating feminist hybrid of EastEnders, Samuel Beckett and Wolf Hall... The engine of the play is Pickett's superb dialogue and the sweary, lairy modern language chats the women have... tremendous... a droll and perceptive period piece that's also a searing and unsettling contemporary feminist drama... we should all listen' * Time Out (2025) * 'Scorching... an astonishingly accomplished, fiery debut... it's masterly – and haunting' * The Stage * 'A phenomenal piece of theatre... The script is outstanding. Pickett has written three women who are clearly rooted in the 16th century in which the play is set – but their language and interactions are completely contemporary... it issues an important warning that resonates across the ages' * Theatre & Tonic * 'Compelling and accomplished... a fresh and timeless story told through a unique historical lens' * West End Best Friend * 'Bold, unsettling and darkly funny... This is a provocative and accomplished work that marks Pickett as a distinctive new voice in British theatre. Smart, savage and strikingly relevant theatre' * Theatre Weekly * 'Incredibly exciting... among the most dramatic and unsettling scenes I have witnessed in a theatre... an absolute must-see' * All That Dazzles *

Author Information

Ava Pickett is a writer for theatre, film and television. Her plays include: an adaptation of A. K. Blakemore's The Manningtree Witches (Mercury Theatre Colchester & Frantic Assembly, 2026); an adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma (Rose Theatre, Kingston, 2025); and 1536 (Almeida Theatre, London, 2025; Ambassadors Theatre, West End, 2026). She was named Most Promising Playwright at both the 2025 London Standard Theatre Awards and the 2026 Critics' Circle Theatre Awards for her play 1536, which also won the 2024 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Her work for television includes co-writer on The Great (Hulu/Channel 4), Brassic (Sky) and Ten Pound Poms (BBC One).

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