THE SPHERE OF LIGHT Comes to Hever Castle

From Ann Henning Jocelyn comes The Sphere of Light, an authentic historic play uncovering the hidden histories of the famous Boleyn women, which will be presented as a showcase at this year’s Hever Castle Theatre Festival. Endorsed by Tudor experts, the play gives a brand-new slant to the gruesome fate that befell the Boleyn family and demonstrates just how little has changed in five hundred years of serious challenges faced by women. 

Set partly in Hever Castle, the Boleyn family seat, the play shows the unknown nephew of Anne and Mary exploring what went on behind Hever’s closed doors. It develops like a detective story, culminating in a startling conclusion that will dispel widely-accepted myths of sexual obsession, ruthless ambition and plain madness, which were created by men anxious to promote their own hidden agenda. 

Anne Boleyn is often portrayed as an ambitious young lady, pushed by her greedy, sycophantic family into the arms of a libidinous king. The myth has subsisted for close to 500 years, appearing time and again, in novels, films and TV series. Contradictory evidence, malicious slander, and political intrigue have all helped obscure the truth that The Sphere of Light illuminates.

Ann Henning Jocelyn’s connection to the Boleyn family has inspired the research of this piece, which has been the pursuit of well over a decade. Jocelyn’s husband, the 10th Earl of Roden, descends from Lord Hunsdon, Mary Boleyn’s son by, presumably, Henry VIII. Early portraits of Mary, Anne and Hunsdon are still owned by the family. Mary’s portrait, stolen in an aggravated burglary in 1990, was dramatically retrieved twenty years later.

Writer Ann Henning Jocelyn lives in the West of Ireland, writing internationally published and performed books and plays. She is also a renowned translator of authors such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Henning Mankell and Jon Fosse. Her latest play, Only Our Own, was shown in the West End and on tour in England and Ireland where Lloyd Evans commented for The Spectator, This understated and immensely powerful speech sets the tone for a play whose stately rhythm and unshowy manner tackles a huge theme with dynamic artistry.

The novel of the same name was launched at Hever on June 1st.