The Whore Queen

Written and performed by Ellie Grace, The Whore Queen is the story of Anne Boleyn from Anne’s point of view, in Anne’s voice and through Anne’s eyes.

One of histories most iconic and infamous characters deserves to be known as more than just a word ‘beheaded.’ This performance explores historic events from her side of the story. What really happened with Henry? How much did she want Catherine out of the way? Did she really have all those lovers? Exactly what was the relationship she had with her brother?

It’s a strong script and for a one woman show, it’s particularly good at keeping the audience engaged. There are some ironically humorous moments and some poignant ones too. If the events were to happen now, (minus the execution, obviously), we’d be accused of victim blaming. The piece highlights the misogyny of the time and questions how far we haven’t come in the last five hundred years. Have we really learned anything?

Ellie Grace embodies Anne, her insecurities, her anger, her deepest feelings of regret. Her performance is unquestionable and a delight to watch, even in the darker moments.

It would be nice to explore the piece with a larger cast, maybe with moments from Anne’s memory replayed between her monologues, taking the audience back into her memories with her and seeing what she sees as she remembers her past.

Overall, this is a great piece of drama and comes highly recommended from us!