Six: Teen Edition – a wunderbar production of the popular dive into history and herstory (East Broadway Theatre Company at Belvoir Studio Theatre until Saturday 5 September)

Welcome to Six: Teen Edition, the musical that reclaims the history of the six wives of King Henry VIII. It’s a summer production from East Broadway Theatre Company directed by Katie-Rose Spence.

By the end of the opening number Ex-wives the six actors have settled into the roles and the Queens are in competition to see which suffered the most begins. Alana plays Catherine of Aragon, whose marriage to Henry overlapped with his interest in Anne Boleyn (Matilda). Ella’s Jane Seymour claims to have been Henry’s true love. Soon Anna of Cleaves (Sophie) is wife number four, before Nell’s Katherine Howard enters the fray. The fight to be the most oppressed is halted by Catherine Parr (Julia), who as a survivor resets the women’s source of identity and they stop soloing and begin to sing in harmony.

As well as toning down a few of the most suggestive elements in the script – but not all! – the Teen Edition comes with the freedom to introduce extra performers. So in this production, the six colourful queens are joined by five performers (Alex, Charlie, Faith, Felix and Tia) dressed in shimmering black. They add to the spectacle of some of the dances, execute a gorgeous piece of interpretive dance during Heart of Stone, and are brilliantly over the top in a wunderbar version of Haus of Holbein, performed for once with the six Queens off-stage. Hats off to assistant choreographer Alex who throws brilliant shapes like a Club 18-30 rep on commission and is fleetingly allowed to realise Henry VIII on stage during a handful of songs.

The live four-piece band (led by Alex McKelvey) are crammed onto risers split between a staircase which allows individual Queens to ascend and sing over heads of the ensemble below. While the staging was simple, giving each Queen their own themed lighting added depth to the visuals.

Alana sets the pace with the first queen’s No Way, while Matilda turns heads before Anne Boleyn loses hers. Ella absolutely slays the key change in Jane Seymour’s Heart of Stone. Right from the start, Sophie imbues Anna of Cleaves with stacks of attitude, only for the pink Barbie Queen to up the stakes as Nell’s Katherine Howard brings her pop diva voice to All You Wanna Do. When the surviving Catherine Parr emerges from the sidelines, Julia pours lots of soul into the show’s quietest ballad I Don’t Need Your Love.

Six is a pretty full-on 75-minute show with little time for performers – or the cue-laden tech team – to catch their breath. The six queens were on top of their characters and Amy Smyth’s choreography. The wobbliest moment came when a lengthy stretch of dialogue leading up to the Remix wasn’t quite quick fire enough and threatened to sap some of the energy. The enthusiastic audience who had been clapping along to many of the songs rose to their feet for the closing mashup Megamix Megasix.

Groups licensing the show are not allowed to copy the costumes or choreography of the professional version of the show. So with the familiar costume designs and dance routines deliberately absent, there’s a sense that Six: Teen Edition is closer to the original 2017 Edinburgh Festival Fringe production. Hard to believe that Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss hadn’t begun to write Six this time ten years old. It’s a great 

East Broadway’s fabulous production of Six: Teen Edition continues at Belvoir Studio Theatre until Saturday 5 September. Get booking while tickets remain.

Photo credit: Michael McCrystal Photography

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