Keira McGahon
Last week I was lucky enough to visit the Theatre Royal to see ‘Six’ which is a musical about Henry the VIII’s various wives. In my opinion, this was one of the best musicals I’ve ever seen. Bearing in mind I perform in pantos and have seen many musicals, this all-female cast were absolutely amazing. These silenced women of history are finally given a voice and it didn’t disappoint!
So what’s the plot?
Six the musical consists of six characters, the wives of Henry the VIII. In yellow and the first, Catherine of Aragon played by Nicole Louise Lewis. In green and the second, Anne Boleyn played by Laura Dawn Puatt. In silver and the third, Jane Seymour played by Erin Calwell. In red and the fourth Anne of Cleeves played by Kennedy Small. In pink and the fifth, Katherine Howard played by Lou Henry. She was the youngest of all the wives and had plenty of attitude! Her voice was stunning and stood out thanks to her sass. In blue was the final wife, Catherin Parr played by Aoife Haakenson.
Life’s not a competition, but who had it the worst?
Each wife competed against each other on how badly they had it, being married to the philandering Henry. Each song was a summary of their life with Henry the VIII and though they never announced a winner, they all suffered in their own ways. The show opened with the iconic rhyme “divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived” which set the scene for the drama to unfold. The musical revealed these women’s own experiences, struggles and sacrifices as being one of the most powerful women in English history.
Clothing clues
Each queen had their own colour costume which symbolised their personality traits.Catherine of Aragon had a gold rhinestone costume which represented her wealth and status. Anne Boleyn has a green glittery short sleeved top and green skirt to match with a necklace and fishnet tights. This was in reference to ‘Greensleeves,’ a poem, which was written by Henry for her. Jane Seymour has a silver long sleeved corset and skirt to match with fishnet tights. This black and white combination represents Tudor buildings we can all recognise in Stratford. The white was also important as it is similar to the colour of a wedding dress. After all she was Henry’s one true love. Anne of Cleeves has a red short sleeve jacket with red shorts, fishnet tights and fishnet sleeves. Her transparent skirt was said to represent the way the opposite sex would admire her beauty although they were not interested in her personality. Katherine Howard has a pink vest with fishnet sleeves, a skirt and leotard with fishnet tights and pink hair extensions. Catherine Parr has a blue sequin short sleeved top with sequin leggings. All queens wore black ankle boots with their colour in rhinestones around the top. The swings (understudies) got their own costume with some of the skirts, the leggings or the shorts, these colours are often turquoise or orange. As part of Haus of Holborn all Queens wear glow in the dark which looked spectacular.
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