Six
Ten Second Review: Everything you could possibly want and more, Six is one of the funniest and more well written original shows of recent years.
About a year ago a friend told me I should go and see Six. He didn’t say too much about it other than that it was a musical about Henry VIII’s wives as a pop group. “It’s so clever and so funny, you’ll absolutely love it.” I kept meaning to go and kept putting it off, but when I was asked what I wanted for my birthday and I looked around at my already over stuffed book shelves, and well enough equipped kitchen, I thought a trip to the theatre would be a good decision.
The musical reimagines all six women as a modern girl band who have decided to have a crack at seeing who had the worst marriage to the King. Ranging from neo-soul to pop bangers and RnB bops to classic ballads, it features a host of musical styles and tilts throughout as the respective queens detail their cases.
So, after such a long wait, and an internal hype that was bordering on dangerous, how was it? It’s incredible. If you get no further than this then I can’t say it enjoyable that you should see this show. I would obviously particularly impress this upon history and pop music lovers, but I truly think this musical has something for everyone. I state this with the added fact that the friend who first suggested I see it hates musicals.
The less said about the content the better but know that it is so well written that even a fine tooth comb of a critic would find difficulty finding fact checking faults. What has to be discussed is the phenomenal talent of the cast.
I understand that the cast rotates with alternates and that this could alter the show immeasurably. I’ve listed the cast I saw at the bottom and I really can’t imagine a better and more perfect group. The skill of each individual on show is one thing but the chemistry and versatility of the ensemble is just fantastic. It wouldn’t be possible to picktrue favourites as each song is excited so well by the whole group that it just seems wrong.
The other part that is truly stunning (although it may seem simple and obvious) is how modern it feels. There is a huge rise in badly executed “modern takes” on topics and stories. Shows, films and even corporate tweets so intent on trying to keep a finger on the pulse that they don’t realise they’ve stifled any kind of relevancy initially possible. This doesn’t just feel fresh and of its moment, it has a deep understanding of its historical aspects and how to bring that to an audience in a current and engaging way.
Clever, relevant and full of incredible talent; I don’t just think you should see it, I think you should take as many people as possible with you.
Cast on night: Jarneia Richard-Noel as Catherine of Aragon, Cherelle Jay as Anne Boleyn, Natalie Paris as Jane Seymour, Alexia McIntosh as Anne of Cleves, Sophie Isaacs as Katharine Howard and Danielle Steers as Catherine Parr.
