SIX Teen Edition

SIX started life as a production at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2017 where it caught the attention of West end producers and became the phenomenon it now is. Telling the stories of Henry VIII’s six wives, they start off competing over who had it worse and end up realising they are stronger together. Not only is the music great but you get a bit of a history lesson too!  SIX Teen Edition was the perfect vehicle for this young cast to showcase their talent. Caisley Graham took on the direction of the production, choreographing two of the numbers, playing Jane Seymour as well as designing and making the costumes and all of this while studying in her first year of a Musical Theatre degree at LMA, London, wow! This meant that rehearsals were held over WhatsApp and during uni holidays which is a testimony to the commitment of both Caisley and the rest of the cast. The age ranges of the cast were between 15 and 19 and all were very strong performers. SIX Teen can be done with a chorus of “Ladies in Waiting” but CLSTG decided to have just the traditional six performers.

The simple set of rostra and steps together with a good lighting plot ensured that the “Queens” were seen at their best throughout, sound balance between tracks and vocals was good. The decoration of the entrance and hall set the scene, I loved the graffiti on the Henry posters and the projections supported the story telling.

After setting up their competition to decide who had the worst deal with Henry, we meet each of the Queens individually. First was of course Catherine of Aragon played by Eleanor Adamson.  Eleanor’s number “No Way” was a strong number and confidently performed. Next in the line-up was Anne Boleyn played by Isla Baker. Isla gave us the sassiness of Anne’s character and led the very popular "Don’t Lose Ur Head”. As Jane Seymour, Caisley Graham gave a beautiful, powerful rendition of “Heart of Stone”, this was followed by a complete change of mood with “House of Holbein” performed by all six wives. Anna of Cleves was portrayed by production choreographer Amy McLellan and her number “Get Down” brought a completely different tempo to the mix, another well performed number. As Henry’s young adulterous wife Katherine Howard, Lily Langers gave a super rendition of “All You Wanna Do” and the surviving wife Catherine Parr played by Anya Siou sang “I don’t Need Your Love” perfectly.  All of these young people gave strong performances which they should be very proud of, individually they were good, and together they were great. Their on stage banter and reactions were well portrayed and every one of them was embraced by the audience and deserved the applause and ovation. It was also nice to see the production “swing” Cara Moody being given the opportunity to share the stage during the reprise of “SIX” and the “Mega Six” numbers, well done Cara learning all of the parts and covering during rehearsals.

Congratulations to Caisley, Amy and their support team for putting together a polished production which was enjoyable throughout.

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