SIX rules at Eden Court in fast, funny, pop musical with empowerment at its core

REVIEW: SIX

Eden Court, Inverness

4 stars

THE SIX queens reign supreme in this all-singing all-dancing musical extravaganza here till Saturday at Eden Court – and maybe representing a new generation of musicals inspired by the full-on energy of pop gigs.

At just 80 minutes, there isn’t even an interval in this fast-moving show based on the life stories of Henry VIII’s wives. Riffing on the old history rhyme for remembering which wife was which ‘Divorced Beheaded Died Divorced Beheaded Survived’, the musical’s writers Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss have created a winning tweaked model for the 21st century musical. Creating it in 2017, they knew they had a slot at the Edinburgh Fringe, worked on a seed idea Toby had had of Henry VIII’s wives as a pop group. They pulled it into a show which was seen by the people who would go on to be the show’s producers. Sounds easy, doesn’t it for a show that's quickly earned a global presence?!

But as part of their rather grand-sounding rules for the show, Toby and Lucy wanted the audiences to have a different perspective on the women known from history as ‘the wives’, to let them tell their own stories, highlight parallels that still exist with women’s lives today, but also to enjoy the fun, humour and power of this pop take on the story.

Not necessary to know all that, of course.

But it explains why the show glows with empowerment, from the first moment the curtains go back on these feisty rocked-up queens in their amazing costumes performing to a live band, to the last piece of gold glitter falling to the stage when it’s all done!

Each of the queens – Catherine of Aragon (Chlöe Hart), Anne Boleyn (Jennifer Caldwell, pictured front centre above), Jane Seymour (Casey Al-Shaqsy), Anne of Cleves (Jessica Niles), Katherine Howard (Becca Wickes), Catherine Parr (Natalie Pilkington) are stunning performers, so it seems almost unfair to pick out individuals.

Each queen rules her story and brings something unique to the songs which have been created to contrast and bring the chance for the range of voices to shine.

So No Way is a showstopping number from Chloe Hart as the first of the Catherines, while a song such as Heart Of Stone from Casey Al-Shaqsy is a gut-wrenching ballad, pouring out of the performer’s core, yet easily reined in for the softest, tenderest notes too.

Then you get the total dance extravaganza that is full-on techno with the queens’ deliciously silly Germanic party number Haus Of Holbein.

Girl power is woven through this whole show and though the queens urge us to “Remember us from your GCSE’s”, by the end we might have taken in a bit of a rewrite on that “… whole lot of history – as we like to call it – HERstory!”.

The queens tell their stories – and with so many of those around me word perfect, it’s a story that already seems an important part of a new generation’s lives.

SIX is on until Saturday at Eden Court. Check for start times as performances are on at 4pm, 6pm and 8pm on different days so families and younger people can enjoy the show too, reflecting the 10+ age guidance More: https://eden-court.co.uk/event/six

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