Review: SIX, Festival Theatre

The award-winning smash-hit musical Six returns to the city where it originated. Six premiered at the 2017 Edinburgh Festival Fringe when creators Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow were students at Cambridge University. This two-week run in the capital sees two separate casts take on these now-iconic roles.

The lineup for the first week of performances is Madison Swan as Catherine of Aragon, Izi Maxwell as Anne Boleyn, Laura Dawkes as Jane Seymour, Hannah Victoria as Anna of Cleves, Lizzie Emery as Katherine Howard and Eloise Lord as Catherine Parr.

The format of Six is that the six wives of Henry VIII are competing to decide who will lead their girl band. The winner? Whoever is deemed to have had the hardest time while married to him. In historical order, we hear the pitch from each as they talk about whatever events left them divorced or beheaded. 

It’s a whole heap of fun as we are treated to an energetic whirlwind of pop bangers over 80 minutes. The queens are brilliantly catty as they argue over which one had the most traumatic life thanks to the husband they had in common. 

Each queen has the chance to shine in their own solo songs, and they also work brilliantly together for the group numbers. Highlights include Dawkes’ “Heart of Stone” for proper power ballad belting and Maxwell’s super fun Gen Z anthem “Don’t Lose Your Head”.

A real takeaway from Six is how much energy the audience are giving back throughout the performance. It’s a show that attracts all ages, and although this sentence makes me feel one hundred years old, it’s a real joy to see so many young people at the theatre.

Nine years after its inception, Six seems to be going from strength to strength. Keeping things fresh with new casts and brilliant song writing, its easy to see why it’s still in such demand today.

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