Anne Boleyn the Musical at Hever Castle – review

It is an undeniably spine-tingling moment as Anne Boleyn makes her entrance, striding across the well-manicured lawns of her ancestral home of Hever Castle towards the awaiting audience, ready to tell her story. It is this unique setting that anchors this new production in real majesty, a musical that is otherwise written with too many broad strokes to fully engage the dramas and emotional volatility of the Tudor soap opera that we all know and love.

Belgian production company Historalia is renowned for their large-scale, historical, outdoor stagings across Europe, and here they make their first venture into the UK with the story of Henry VIII’s second ill-fated wife. It’s a high-tech and breathtakingly impressive setup. An enormous undercover auditorium looks upon a vast open stage, its backdrop the beautifully illuminated castle in which Anne grew up. Sam Gevers’ score is played by the City of Prague Philharmonic, broadcast through headphones to each audience member with the voices of cast members feeding in to draw us in closer to the often quite distant action.

Rebecca Night’s book tries to cram in Anne’s entire life story, making it a sprint through rather than a deep exploration. Jerking moments of exposition give way to a rapid pace that then dives through key moments in history with some very un-Tudor-like language on occasions – “keep a poker face, it’s just a whim”. Night is also co-lyricist alongside Sam Kenyon with some equally unnuanced language – “H and A, hooray hooray it’s coronation day”.

Gevers’ score is also a mixed bag. There are some sweeping delights and some powerfully charged dramatic moments. A perky Disney-esque number is given to the household staff to prepare the house as “the King is coming” led by Kim Ismay’s cosily jolly lady’s maid Joan. The act one closer is a bouncy number about the reformation in which the delighted company will “prove that a single King, should be in charge of everything”.

Whilst the material may border on theme park theatre, the company of wonderfully costumed principal performers – impressively supplemented by a large contingent of local community performers – are all outstanding.

Leading the charge is the diminutive Emily Lane as Anne. Lane makes a sympathetic Queen and steers clear of the more popular portrayal of her as an overly ambitious and ruthless woman. This Anne speaks of wanting to change the world, to help the poor and to use her power for good. Lane’s vocals soar in the many soul-searching ballads that she is given. It’s a powerhouse performance that is full of serene control.

Mark Goldthorp is a suitably pompous and often quite laddish Henry. His impressive act two number with Matt Bond’s broodingly ever-present Cromwell is a great moment. Noah Sinigaglia’s Queen Catherine is an imposing presence – despite the oddly camp choice of her being surrounded by gold glittery fans as she sings “we are Queens”.

Whilst this might be a musical that lacks nuance and has often only a loose relationship with historical accuracy, there is no denying that this is epically enjoyable in its enormous scale and in its contextual surroundings. A show that has a real castle as its backdrop and real horses cantering its royal stars around is undoubtedly worth a trip out to the wiles of the Kent countryside.