Starring: Nicole Louise Lewis, Laura Dawn Pyatt, Erin Caldwell, Kenedy Small, Lou Henry, Aoife Haakenson
Created by Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss
Directed by Lucy Moss & Jamie Armitage
Review by Miriam Atkinson
Six is a glitzy pop-inspired musical about the six wives of Henry VIII – Catherine of Aragon (Nicole Louise Lewis), Anne Boleyn (Laura Dawn Pyatt), Jane Seymour (Erin Caldwell), Anna of Cleves (Kenedy Small), Katherine Howard (Lou Henry), and Catherine Parr (Aoife Haakenson). Told entirely from the point of view of the Queens, the musical gives insight into their lives whilst also maintaining a strong girl power message.
Rather than a traditional play with a narrative featuring a beginning, middle and end; Six is essentially an eighty-minute concert. Throughout the performance the Queens are in competition with each other. The rules? They each get one song to tell their story; the person they determine had the most tragic life gets to be the leading lady of the show. While also educating the audience, Six is played as both comedic (such as Catherine of Aragon listing one of her sufferings as almost being sent to a nunnery) and darkly comedic (for example Anne Boleyn constantly reminding everyone about her execution).
The songs are naturally the focus of the musical. Six includes four ensemble numbers and six individual performances. I genuine loved all of the songs and throughout the show I kept changing my mind about which was my favourite. Even though the harmonies in the ensemble songs were incredible I enjoyed the six solo performances even more. They were all so good and the lyrics have been stuck in my head ever since I saw the show – I really couldn’t pick one winner out of them. In fact as soon as I got home I had to look up the soundtrack online because I wanted to hear the songs again and again!
As the show was short enough to not need an interval, the song-styles were used to punctuate the overall performance. The ensemble numbers of ‘Ex-Wives’ and ‘Six’ were used to open and close the show; meanwhile the ridiculously brilliant ‘Haus of Holbein’ served as the halfway marker for the musical. This split the solo songs into two groups of three – each containing two energetic dance performances and one powerful ballad. I love that the musical was designed to give each of the six actresses a moment in the spotlight to shine.
The other key element that has to mentioned when discussing Six is the distinctive costumes. Following the creations of the show’s original costume designer Gabriella Slade the costumes use elements of Tudor dress, such as the curved sleeves, together with the glittery glamour of modern pop stars. Each of the Queens wears a different colour. This makes them immediately recognisable on stage and hints at an element of their character. Catherine of Aragon the first and longest serving Queen wears a royal gold, Anne wears green for envy, Jane has white to represent innocence and purity, Anna has red as a representation of her boldness, Katherine Howard wears a flirty bright pink, and Catherine Parr (as the most responsible Queen in the show) wears blue for calm and harmony. (Disclaimer: the links between the colours are just my own interpretations).
As you can tell I completely loved Six and it was an amazing night! All six actresses were phenomenal and I could tell that the entire audience were enjoying themselves as much as I was. The next time the musical returns to one of my local theatres I am definitely going to see it again. Long live the Queendom!
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