SIX (teen edition)

In the more intimate Gallery/cinema theatre of the Customs house I was privileged to see both the afternoon and evening performance of the teenage cult classic SIX – modified slightly for younger performers into the ‘Teen edition’.

The reason for both performances was that Drama Geeks is abundant with talent and over three dozen young girls auditions for the roles of the six queens of Henry VIII allowing two casts.

The fact that so many teenaged girls wished to be part of this production is testament to the popularity of such a piece – and why not? For a teenage girl this is the ultimate ‘girl power’ musical of a reimagining of the lives and tribulations of the six wives of arguably the most well know and brutal of all Tudor monarchs, King Henry VIII.

I say reimagining because this elderly white haired man sees it as six young women transposed from Tudor England to a social media obsessed world in the 21st century.

The show is fairly modern, having its debut at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2017, and is a teen girl cult show. However, both sold out performances had its fair share of men (maybe fathers of teenage daughters LOL). I have seen productions where, rather than disappoint the multitude of girls auditioning, the society has added ‘Ladies in Waiting’ to the six queens. This production was purely the six queens which I personally prefer as I think it devalues somewhat the concept of the musical to have ladies in waiting (albeit I’ve seen excellent productions with Ladies in Waiting).

As to the show(s) themselves the intimate dimensions of the theatre lent itself admirably to the production and the lighting plot was excellent, choreography superb, and vocals magnificent from performers ranging from 12 to 16. Each Queen had their own personality and each their ‘own’ song before the crowd on their feet finale ‘megamix’.

There were two teams (Holbein and Henry) and are mentioned below in those order;

Catherine of Aragon (Sophie Jones, Gabrielle Crosby); Anne Boleyn (Ava Lugsden, Charlotte Hall); Jayne Seymour (Zara Wisniewska, Emily Moore); Anna of Cleves (Olivia Chase, Sophie Nevins); Katherine Howard (Lucy Stephenson, Macie Sinclair); and Catherine Parr (Lexi Nygaard, Jessica Johnson-Derivan)

All girls were magnificent in their roles and costuming and staging  out of this world – well done.
A special well done to one queen in Team Henry, Macie Sinclair whose radio microphone failed in the opening number and just continued and improvised the remainder of the show with a hand held mike handed to her, rejecting the prop sparkly mike she was supposed to use for its practical alternative.

This was a show that had the audience deservedly on their feet in both performances and such accomplished and polished performances that belied the youthful ages of the actresses on stage.

A nice touch to see the alternative team take a bow at each performance so that the audience could applaud both casts for their efforts.

A pleasure and a privilege to be present at both performances – Well Done Drama Geeks.

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