Six, Withers, Coppell and Berwick, Canberra Theatre, 23 April-15 May 2022, Adelaide, Melbourne, New Zealand and Brisbane to follow

 

The Six Wives of Henry the Eighth have recieved a lot of pop culture attention, whether singiularly or collectively, appearing in material as variable as a Rick Wakeman song cycle, a popular BBC series of the 70s with Keith Michell as Henry and, inevitably, a jingle in "Horrible Histories". But this version, reconfiguring the wives as a somewhat competetive girl group in concert, has caught fire playing productions around the world from modest beginnings as an Edinburgh festival piece.

Writers Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss give the cast a simple structure - big intro, big outro, one solo each and a mid-show romp with a megamix at the end, and use it to play with the preconceptions of the six women usually eclipsed by the man they had in common - allowing them to present themselves in pop ballads and bangers that give each the spotlight to show how they were wronged by the world around them. It's a lively, quippy show with occasional deeper moments, and uses the concept of the pop concert well with plenty of callouts for the audience to celebrate the performers talents - for a show as franchised as this, none of the performers feel like they're going through other people's motions - their roles sit on them in personal and particular characters outside of other people's outlines.

Each of the performers sieze their moments - Phoenix Jackson Mendoza as the tough-cookie Aragon, Boleyn as the bogan party girl Boleyn, Loren Hunter as the nice-girl-baladress Seymour, Kiana Daniele as the punkish Cleves, Chelsea Dawson as the party-girl-with-a-dark-secret Howard, and Vidya Makan as the clued-in Parr. 

The combination of Emma Bailey's set design and Tim Deling's very active lighting design gives the show fantastic enegy and charm, combined with Gabriella Slade's ultra-modern take on traditional Tudor outfits. 

A great little spectacle (small cast, 75 minute show) but with a lot to chew on post-show, there's no wonder this is an international sensation, and it's absolutely worth catching on tour as soon as you can.