Review of Six the musical at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham

A packed and excited capacity audience enjoyed this classy production in all its wonderful musicality.

Six is a history lesson on stage - or a 'herstory' lesson. It tells of the lives of the six wives of King Henry VIII in a toe tapping, hand clapping extravaganza rarely seen in the provinces.

Written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss in 2017 it came from a vision in a poetry class and a desire to put on a fully female production telling the story of Henry's poor wives.

"Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived" is the central tale of the show which has six superb musical performers doing their thing wonderfully.

Each Queen played their roles superbly - Lauren Drew as Catherine of Aragon, Madison Bullyment as Ann Boleyn, Caitlin Tipping as Jane Seymore, Shekinah McFarlane as Anne of Cleeves, Jennifer Caldwell as Ann Boleyn and Catherine Howard, and Harriet Watson as Catherine Parr and Jane Seymour.

They were joined on stage by the Ladies in Waiting - Sarah Burrell on keys, Vanessa Dominique on drums, Frankie South on guitar and Kat Bax on bass, Six has a rocking soundtrack which combines with wonderful choreography by Carrie-Anne Ingroulle to produce a mesmerising event telling each Queen's personal story.

Each headturn and hand flick or leg kick was perfectly executed by this superbly drilled cast who interacted with the audience mixing medieval speech with modern day sayings such as "LOL".

The show is incredibly funny and witty with each Queen vying to be the most important to Henry VIII.

There are no men in Six and it works brilliantly leaving the audience applauding rapturously as if they were at the concert of their favourite artist. Indeed many of the audience appeared to be die hard Six fans who revelled in each story as it was told.

The show saw a return to packed houses at the Everyman and everyone left the venue feeling uplifted and energised by the return of live performance - a tour de force.