One of the questions posed by Catherine Parr in the musical SIX is ‘can you name the wife of Henry the Seventh?’ None of her fellow queens could and I suspect most of the audience couldn’t either (it was Elizabeth of York by the way). Yet I suspect most of us remember the six queens of Henry VIII and that is the central theme of this impeccably performed and entrancing musical.
All of them – Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr have an indelible place in history due to the man they all married. Their history is tragic and their many talents and gifts have often been overlooked due to the way most of them died and the way the Kind treated them.
SIX turns history on its head and imagines these queens as the passionate, intelligent, and powerful women they were in their own right. It excoriates misogyny and by including many modern references reminds us that in many ways the same power dynamics exist in our time.
Set as a modern day singing competition the ladies must compete to see who is the ‘most tragic’ of the sextet. Each gets a chance through narrative and song to plead their case to the audience but eventually they realise they don’t need to – doing so simply puts Henry centre stage and these women are proudly rewriting their own ‘herstory.’
This is one hell of a clever musical with stunning costume design, bitingly funny lyrics and dialogue and brilliantly orchestrated music played by a bevy of ‘ladies in waiting’. Each song is smashed out by a talented bunch of sassy and engaging women. Many of these songs are upbeat and wouldn’t be out of place in a nightclub, others such as Heart of Stone are poignant and deeply emotional. Yet even the more poppy ones have a hint of the tragic and sad which means that the entire production while filled with vitality and pizazz doesn’t forget the tragedy underlying these tales.
As a history buff and a huge fan of musicals I was interested to see how this production managed to balance entertainment with a very well known piece of history. What SIX delivered was a must-see, brilliant, bold and utterly unforgettable night of theatre that is both empowering and sobering.
Watch Andrew’s interview with Georgia Kennedy who plays Catherine Parr in the Australian and New Zealand 2025 tour of SIX:
SIX
27 Feb – 23 Mar 2025
The Civic Theatre – Auckland
