Six - Teen Edition

My sincere thanks to LRSUPERNOVAS for the invitation to see my first complete viewing of SIX [ Teen Edition} at the Met Abertillery. As with most of the audience, I was well aware of the opening number “Ex Wives”, as heard on the popular national media channels, but the full production had been a mystery, and I had no idea what to expect.

The initial opening with an on-stage band, gave a close cabaret feel to the show especially as the musicians were introduced individually to the audience as historical characters. 

Grace Jackson [Joan] Keys/Conductor,  Sarah Jackson {Maria} Drums, Lucie Phillips [Bessie] Bass, Josh Shankland [Henry V111] Guitar . My congratulations to you all, the sound was amazing and extremely well controlled, enhancing the vocals and bringing out the best in every performance.

It is very difficult to refer to each member of this very special cast as individuals although as individual performers they brought something very special onto the stage. I therefore start and follow in the footsteps of Henry himself and try to do justice to the performers, who made me totally exhausted just watching them perform.

Lily-May Davey as Catherine of Aragon the devout wife, may not have been so quickly divorced if she had shown the strength of character and sassy disposition of Lily-May, who’s no nonsense performance and excellent delivery made a right royal difference.

Sophia Allsopp as Anne Boleyn may have lost her head but on stage, she certainly held it together and apologised for nothing. A strong performance with humour and clear expressive delivery that clearly showed the character of this determined Queen.

Mia Atwell as the fated beauty Jane Seymour, who gave the King his son but died before she had time to enjoy her success. This quiet figure was beautifully portrayed by Mia with a soft performance that suddenly exploded and left the audience wondering where the power of her voice had come from. A surprising power from the quiet Queen.

Olivia Williams as the jilted and divorced Anna of Cleves, took Henry for a fortune and lived in luxury, just as Olivia came out fighting with a powerful performance that dispelled any doubt that she, like Anna was strong and totally owned the stage.

Jude Evans as the notorious Katherine Howard who lost her head over many a suitor, gave the perfect characterisation. Naughty but nice raunchy and seductive, she made no apology for her actions .

Isabella Howe as the surviving wife Catherine Parr had every reason to be confident and she showed it with every note from an amazing voice. She was the survivor and sang from the soul. 

This was an outstanding performance from six girls whose voices filled the theatre. They looked amazing and filled the stage with their energy. The choreography enhanced the whole performance there was never a dull moment, the energy was palpable.

My congratulations to the production team, the band and to 6 young performers who should be very proud of this achievement.

 

The views in this report are solely of the author.

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