“… a campy, comedic, clever celebration.“
Kate Stratford
5 Crowns
Venue: Theatre Royal
Sydney
Dates: Until 20th December
The SIX queens are back, just as fabulous as ever. Back to tell their story, the herstory of the six ex-wives of a certain monarch whose notoriety is based solely on the abuse he dished out to the women he married. In telling their stories, they reclaim their individuality and refute the male version of what happened.
SIX conquered the Edinburgh Festival in2017 and went on to rampage though London and the rest of the world in the wake of the #MeToo movement. It presented as proudly feminist – even the backing band (The Ladies in Waiting) had been – and always must be, an all-female rock band.
Rocking up to opening night, I could not help but wonder how the show would land in 2026. In the last few years we have the horrors of the Epstein files, the manosphere encouraging violence against women, issues of consent, and paedophiles and rapists openly elected to run governments. It turns out the material was always in the script, flavouring the plot device, so direction and performance can play into these darker edges to suit the times.
For SIX begins as a competition between women to explore which one was most traumatised by the same man. A bit tongue-in-cheek here for it is a patriarchal device to divide women by having them compete with each other. Always in the script, it now plays more meaningfully. Catharine Parr’s moral invocation to not compete but support is more powerful than nine years ago. Every song now has a different tone. Each queen has her own strength and defiance, apart from what should be recognised as the complete victim in Katharine Howard.
Sarah Murr’s Katharine of Aragon’s No Way is less the lament of a loyal wife betrayed and more a declaration of a woman reclaiming her identity. It has Queen Beyonce all over it and Murr certainly has the vocal chops to bring it home. Hers is a powerful presence. It is followed by perhaps the most famous queen of the six, Anne Boleyn. Don’t Lose Your Head. is the promo song of the show and could have been more defiant and less ditzy. A directorial and actor choice perhaps that has not read the room properly. Stopping the coda of the song just before it’s blast into the final chorus to have Mia Paris Scalise speak “Seriously guys, he’s gonna cut of my head” destroyed the power of the final chorus. The song was originally written with a chav accent in mind and the Australian accent just does not convey the same anti-authority defiance. Boleyn was a woman who dared do the unthinkable, forging her path without regret. She needs to be chav.
Even Jane Seymour’s Adele inspired ballad is not so much about steadfast love but retaining personal integrity in the face of domestic anger and threat. “When the fire’s burnt / When the wind has blown / When the water’s dried / You’ll still find stone.” Similarly, Cara Bessy’s Australian accent here affected the connection to character. This ballad requires crisp vowels, instances of glottal stops in between vowels, and vocalised /l/s at the end of syllables. It is like trying to do a Tennessee Williams play without a southern accent – you lose the inherent musicality. Bessy also seemed to struggle with choreography.
The most charismatic queen on opening night had to be Kadesa Honeywell’s Anna of Cleves. Reveling in her post-divorce life, she extols her life without a man telling her what to do. Her hip-hop braggadocio, full of Rhiannon vibes, owns the stage.
Chillingly, poor Katharine Howard’s story resonates more strongly in 2026. Groomed from the age of 13 to be a pleasure toy, kept illiterate, passed around from man to man, she was married off to the 49 year old king at the age of 17. Queen for 16 months before being beheaded for infidelity. All You Wanna Do devolves into a plaintive cry of a child sexually abused. The framing of this song as Britney Spears bubblegum music emphasises her naiveite. The forced, awkward smiles on her face, the use of dirty jokes and double entendres to hide/obscure the facts, is a coping mechanism widely used by CSA victims. Angela Brischetto ‘s downplaying underscores how Katharine herself is barely able to understand what happened to her, As the audience , we see what is happening. We know that it is wrong. As a child it is impossible for her to confront the facts of having been sexually abused. It’s a very meta staging. This is a song where the choreography is so important and therefore the cast recording does not do it justice. The hands all over her body, pawing at her; she is the only queen we see die. Painfully alone. By the last notes, the plus 1 and I had a little tear in the eye.
The last of the SIX, Catharine Parr stops the show to ask the audience and the other five why are they competing for sympathy for their individual trauma? Lorinda-May Merrypoor brings the sense and maturity to examine the misogyny which seeks to divide women and pit them against each other. Her character suggests recognising that trauma is trauma and looks different for every sufferer. What the Six need to do is offer structure to support and help each other to heal and dismantle the cultural scaffolding which abused them all. There is an important message in all this bouncy pop music, glorious award-winning costumes (Gabriella Slade) and the tech-pop set and lighting design (Emma Bailey) which embraces both the historical and the contemporary. And it is in the manifesto of the creators Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow.
There is power and merit in the act of reclaiming historical narratives about women through the systems and structures that force oppression on them; and to find parallels in the current female experience. It would be easy to say that such ambition could only result in performative work (especially in its 80 minute timeframe!) but this would negate the very real impact this musical has had and the joy it brings. Opening night a goodly portion of the audience were adolescent girls, thrilled at being there. To present them with a pop concert genre musical told exclusively by women – but not just for women – empowers and encourages female perspectives.
A campy, comedic, clever celebration. In all its purple glory.
photo credit Cybele Malinowski and James D. Morgan
Kate Stratford, Theatre Now
