WE all know about Henry VIII – lived in Hampton Court, loved to eat, created the Church of England so he could get divorced.
And we mostly all know he had six wives.
3
3
But apart from the playground chants and their prim portraits in school history books, what do we really know about the three Catherines, two Annes and a Jane?
Embarrassingly, it seems we’ve been doing them a massive disservice over the last 400-odd years.
While we’ve been concentrating almost solely on the obese Tudor King, we should have spent a bit more time considering the women who enabled so much of his controversial life.
Happily, there’s clever people like Cambridge grads Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, who created Six The Musical for the Edinburgh Festival seven years ago to tell their stories.
And because it was clearly such a fierce and fabulous idea – it’s since burst onto Broadway and wowed in London’s West End – winning a ton of awards.
Refreshingly different from the recent slew of musicals appropriating old pop songs to carry the story, this is 80 brave minutes of original, pacey, intelligent and funny material.
The incredibly capable cast of six feisty wives race through history as each of them take centre stage with a clever song to explain who, what, why, when – and their mostly unhappy endings.
In keeping with the strong Girl Power theme, they’re accompanied by a brilliant all-women band rocking out on stage in support.
The costumes are absolutely sensational, with nods to Tudor dress but firmly feminine.
And the Vaudeville theatre is the perfect-sized home for such a pacey performance.
There’s no interval – but the entire production is energetic enough for you to not notice, you’re so eager to keep up.
It might go over the head of younger kids, but for secondary school age right up to the overexcited pensioners giggling in their seat around me, this is pure, perfect entertainment – and an education via sensational stealth.
3
