‘SIX’ takes us back to the 1500s and gives us an opportunity to peer behind the palace doors to get to know Henry VIII and his six wives, infamously remembered as the ‘Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived’.
Lucy Ross and Jamie Armitage did a fantastic job in directing this historic account of how each woman came to be married to the King. Through pulsating lights, bodacious costumes and an all-female onstage band strumming liberation, prepare to be enthralled by their stories in this concert-like performance.
SIX’ is an engaging, high-energy, interactive show giving insight into the realities of the real weight of the English crown.
Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anna of Cleves, Katheryn Howard and Catherine Parr are all names we know of from history books but for an evening you get to meet and dance with the real Queens. Silenced no more, they’re realigning their crowns and picking up the mic- boy do they have some tales!
It’s no secret that Henry VIII had a wandering eye, strongly fuelled by a quest for a wife to bear him a male heir and heads really did roll to get there.
The cast is fantastic, guiding you through the bumps in their respective journey with humour and wit. With particularly hilarious performances from Rhianne-Louise McCaulsky (as Catherine of Aragon), Baylie Carson (as Anne Boleyn) and Dionne Ward Anderson (as Anna of Cleves) who have really found their home on the West End stage. Together the wives engulf you within their Queendom. Their personality and flair show them to be the true gems in the castle.
As they recount their lives you hear tales of love, loss, judgment, sin and a suspiciously recurring theme of being discarded or killed… Surrounded by high, illuminated church windows they candidly compare and confess their inner thoughts to you on their marriages to Henry VIII. However, instead of the expected rueful tune, the dance to their demise is upbeat and defiant.
Silenced no more, they’re realigning their crowns and picking up the mic- boy do they have some tales!
Heads held high, these divas strut the stage with hypnotic choreography, in their distinguished shutter shades and ruffs. You’ll soon find yourself joining them, on your feet, jiving to the surprisingly sweet fusion of enraged bitterness meeting humorous vindication. The play is a song of women empowerment and, like it or not, it’s catchy!
‘SIX’ is an engaging, high-energy, interactive show giving insight into the realities of the real weight of the English crown. The writing is modern and captivating with historical roots and a defining theme of ‘girl power’, seasoned with the faint but familiar trace of patriarchy. This is a show that can appeal to all audiences.
So although this remains a song of those ‘Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived’ you’ll leave knowing that they did not need Henry VIII to have the titles ‘Queens’ bestowed upon them.
