What’s going on? First a new rap and hip-hop musical called Hamilton about the generally ignored US President Alexander Hamilton is London’s hottest ticket. Now there is Six, a full on musical extravaganza about Henry VIII’s six wives. Loud, energetic, irreverent and, yes, sparkly, London’s new musical Six is just what all of us need on a damp winter’s evening. It might be less of a play and more of a pop concert; less a musical and more something fresh off the fringe, but what it lacks in plot, it sure makes up for in verve, brightness and, amazingly, real history. It looks like the history musical is a genre we can all embrace.
Most of us know the story of Henry VIII and his six wives pretty well but don't worry, this production is fact-based. Written by two Cambridge history students, the songs are current but don’t put a foot wrong factually. Giving each Queen a clear story makes them easier to distinguish and there is lots of detail. I, for one, had forgotten the little gem that Anne Boleyn wore yellow the day that her rival, Catherine of Aragon died (so said Edward Hall in his contemporary Chronicle anyway).
Like Hamilton, the appeal of Six is that the cast is not drawn from a pool of pretty white girls with public school accents. It fits right in with a London stage currently alive with colour-blind, gender-blind, creed-blind productions, although there are no drag queens here just girls with great voices. I’m a history nerd and I have a clear idea in my head of what each of these Queens looked like, but by the end I totally believed in each individual portrayed and was exclaiming “Oh, they were so well cast!”.
It’s feminist, of course, if by that you mean that it casts a female perspective on a history normally understood through the prism of Henry VIII’s concerns. About time, I hear you cry. And thank goodness, it remains positive throughout, focussing on how great these women were, not what a hard time they had (though Katherine Howard definitely got a raw deal). The ‘patriarchy’ gets a bit of a bashing but Henry is held at a distance and given credit for his achievements as King and this production never resorts to whining - “Everyone chill, It’s totes God’s will”. Now there’s a convincing 16th century sentiment.
There is a point here. Let’s face it, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats did not give us a generation who read T S Eliot, but everyone has now at least heard of Alexander Hamilton, even over here in the UK, and now there is no excuse for not knowing the difference between Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr. Hurrah for a new way of popularising history, perhaps it will even get more urban teens visiting Hever Castle or Hampton Court. If you have a teenager studying the Tudors for GCSE, you have no excuse not to take them, - the production is touring next year - they will love it and so will you; you might even learn something. Now book me in for the next history musical!