This week saw the opening of the musical ‘Six’ at its new home, The Vaudeville Theatre. It has already had quite a wild ride since 2017 when it was written in two days by a couple of students, for the Edinburgh fringe. It was a runaway success and though silenced for a while by Covid, the six wives of Henry VIII have been singing their stories, all over the world since then and there is no sign of them slowing down, writes Katie Kelly.
The aim of the show is to buck the forever trend of history being written by men, for men even when it’s about women. The words from President Jefferson in another history-themed musical, ‘Hamilton’, come to mind: ‘Let me tell you what I wish I’d known, when I was young and dreamed of glory. You have no control, who lives, who dies, who tells your story’. Like Hamilton, Six is not the theatrical equivalent of eating your greens, good for you but unexciting. It’s a wild musical romp of a show which allows each of the wives the opportunity to do exactly that. The all-female cast stretches to their band, the ‘Ladies in waiting’. This is girl power all the way, from curtain up to curtain down.
The performance takes the form of a ‘pop’ concert though each story is sung in an individual style. From huge power ballad ‘Heart of Stone’ by Jane Seymour to the more subtle song of Katherine Howard,’ All you wanna do’, which cleverly exposes the abuse suffered by a young woman who is then slut-shamed by history. In the middle there is an absolute delight of a number, ‘Get Down’ by Anne of Cleves, played by Dionne Ward-Anderson. Rejected by Henry for not living up to her ‘profile pic’ she glories in the independence this gives her as a rich and single woman, with sass and style. It feels unfair to single out one performer in a uniformly strong cast. The only thing lacking from this show is a little more time and perhaps a little more depth. At 80 minutes with no interval, audiences might feel a slightly short changed, given the price of a West End ticket. The writing is witty and we could have heard a little bit more from the characters in spoken word. The standing ovation is designed in when the audience are encouraged on to their feet and to get their cameras out, but heartfelt nonetheless. Six, however, left me wanting more…
Vaudeville Theatre, 404 Strand, London WC2R 0NH until 29th October. Times: Varied – see website for details. Admission: £29.50 – £69.50
Booking: 0330 333 4814 – www.thevaudevilletheatre.co.uk
