THE recitation of Henry VIII’s wives and their fates has become a common sport. But how might it have played out in real time, and how much was understood?

These questions are addressed by the exciting playwright Ava Pickett in 1536. After a short run at the Almeida last summer, it is bringing history to life in the West End — or “reclaiming the narrative”, as the historian Susannah Lipscomb writes in a programme note. Her 2009 book, 1536: The year that changed Henry VIII, sits behind this impressive play and is a further addition to the growing canon of work on women in medieval England.

The premiss is simple: three lead female characters, somewhere in Essex in 1536, trying to live their lives and interpreting the daily themes, both large and small. They are young women, and their fortunes are pegged to the menfolk around them. Naturally, they are feisty, but also vulnerable — until they are married, although that carries its own risks, as the narrative portrays.

Anne Boleyn is a cipher for this. London is far away, certainly more distant than the local metropolis of Colchester, and the news trickles down slowly. Her reputation begins to change, and her execution is shocking in its speed and brutality.

The director, Lyndsey Turner (Chimerica), who is skilled in the arts of a political play and domestic drama, has spun gold with this trio of women actors. Siena Kelly is Anna, the smouldering village temptress, who brings passion, fun, and a touch of unrootedness. Liv Hill’s Jane is homely and sweet, clearly a family girl who is trusting and naïve. Mariella, played by Tanya Reynolds (The Other Bennet Sister), works as a midwife and herbalist. She sees many secrets and has some of her own, as when she is called to the home of her on-off lover — George Kemp as William, a cruel and dismissive chinless wonder — to deliver his wife’s baby.

Anna is in a casual sexual relationship with lascivious Richard (Oliver Johnstone), who then betrays her by marrying Jane, mainly for her family’s money, and turns to domestic violence.

Clichés are avoided, even if the penultimate scene is shoutier than a Saturday night in Romford. The language crackles throughout with linguistic attention (“miserable as sin”, “turn over a new leaf”, even “coronated”, first used in 1623). There is no interval; so the conclusion, after almost two hours, is welcome, and the journey is worth while. The play speaks into the Love Island tropes and is fluent in how women without agency have been traded and commoditised throughout history. “Has it always been like this?” one of the girls asks at the end. The sad question landed a blow that needed no answer.

1536 runs at the Ambassadors Theatre, West Street, London WC2, until 1 August.

1536onstage.com