Six – Teen Edition

Six is not a musical I have seen before this week and thanks to the Nottingham Arts Theatre Production team and Casts I can certainly see why it has achieved so much popularity on both the West End stage in its original version and in this Teen Edition.

Having had the opportunity to see both the Herstoric and Herstory casts at the dress rehearsal while shooting their promotional photographs, plus being in the audience for the final Sunday matinee performance, I can honestly say that both Cast’s left absolutely nothing in the dressing room delivering high energy vocals and deft acting performances that brought out the individuality of Catherine A, Anne, Jane, Anna, Katherine and Catherine P making them fascinating in their own right and not just Six wives of a certain english King….

The overall production was staged, lit and costumed to great effect, the vocal performances from both Cast’s were obviously the result of a significant amount of work and skill from Jonah Williams.  Movement was always appropriate for the evolving story and the dance choreography added a great dimension to the overall production thanks to the talents of Jessica Royce. The characterisation, story-telling and sass from the two casts made each Queen unique and empathetic which is very much a credit to the hard work and direction from Eleanor Carty.  The production ensured your attention was always focussed on the narrative and the 90 minutes flew by with every minute packed with drive and each actor remained in character for the full duration so that their reactions and focus never slipped while others had their time in the spotlight.

Turning to the performances, Chloe Crofts and Caitlin Young had the difficult task of being the first in the spotlight as Catherine of Aragon and both Chloe and Caitlin succeeded in capturing the audiences attention and helping us understand how the show was going to progress as a series of monologues with interjections from the other Queens.  Looking back you can see the volume of line learning that was involved in each character, but at the time thanks to the skill of each actor, I was captivated by the apparently effortless delivery.

Connie Hatchett and Connie Tegerdine brought just the right level of attitude to Anne Boleyn and each made the role her own in both narrative development throughout the performance and making the iconic Don’t Lose Ur Head sparkle in the performances I saw.

Grace Jones-Eccles and Amelie Adams gave Jane Seymour many more interesting facets than school history lessons tend to provide.   Grace and Amelie both delivered heartfelt and sympathetic performances that made Seymour a very three dimensional character and made Heart of Stone a dramatic highlight of the entire production. 

Elizabeth Fitzgerald and Arlo Perrons have to be congratulated for making Anna of Cleves one of the most interesting characters of the production both when in the spotlight and also in their reactions to the stories of the other Queens. They made Anna’s sarcasm obvious but also telegraphed that her apparent scorn for others was actually just a defence mechanism for their internal vulnerability.

Both Eliza Szejda and Kayla Burgess were on fire in their portrayal of Katherine Howard another of the Queens that History does not often do justice to..  The show gives Katherine the opportunity for sparring with Anne other beheaded Queen which enabled Eliza and Kayla to have a lot of fun with their characterisations and also bring the house down with their performances in All You Wanna Do.

Kate Russell and Sophie Murphy delivered great vocal harmonies and acting performances during the show and had the unenviable challenge of being the final Queen in the spotlight.   They both succeeded in delivering a great epilogue bringing out the message that the Queens strength was in their working together to “reclaim their voices and rewrite the narrative’ rather than competing for who had the worst of living with Henry…

A thoroughly enjoyable production throughout, with every member of the Queens, Dancers and Band alike putting every ounce of talent, energy and attitude into their performances and pulling together as a team.   So congratulations are also due to the to the dance talent of Roxy Smith, Evie Jones, Libby Thompson, Katie Lister, Olivia Bott and Camille Jules and the superb musical delivery of Jonah Williams, AJ Hill, Abi Wilson and Austin Owen.

 

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