Six: The Musical

When I was younger the six wives of Henry VIII always fascinated me. It profounded me the way the women were poorly treated and how their struggles and suffering are still relevant today. We know a lot about Catherine of Aragon's loyalty, Anne Boleyn's passion and Jane Seymour's obedience. We don't always hear much about the other three wives as much, but they all get equal spotlight in the show.

I like the set-up of the wives facing each other off to see who suffered the most and who was the "true" wife. I also liked the modern elements and how Henry never actually appears on the show and it's just about the wives. Each of the wives gets solos but some together. Their outfits remind me of an idol troupe.

It was out in Oxford last year, but I missed out on tickets. But I was lucky enough to get a cheap ticket on the balcony for this year. I ordered it at least four months ago, but it was very early. Both of my aunts tried to get tickets to see it in Oxford, but they were all sold out.

Reaching Oxford from Banbury normally only takes 20 minutes. But there were a lot of delays. A fire broke out on one of the train tracks. I'm not sure which one though, I heard it was somewhere in London. So, I never got there till half an hour before the show was about to start. And the queue to get into the theatre reached the whole city centre. People were asking what the line was for.

The show started just as I got my seat. So I was glad I didn't get to miss anything. There was not an empty seat in the theatre. I had heard nothing but good stuff about the show and it was a straight show with no interval which worked for me as I had to be back for work and my gym classes the next morning.

I don't think I ever did have a favourite out of the six wives, but always found all of them interesting and loved reading books about Anne Boleyn and most of the Tudor history in general.

I loved the mixture of styles and songs in the show because it gave each wife a distinct personality. I think out of all of the songs, I liked Katherine Howard's song the most because it's catchy and upbeat but it has a very dark undertone on it and represents a girl's experience with trauma and abuse well. There are so many girls out there who still go through what Katherine Howard did and got killed for it.

The only thing I wasn't so keen on in certain bits was how petty some of the wives were and try to outdo each other with the traumas they been through. I do think it gave touches of humour, especially Anne Boleyn bringing up the time she was beheaded. When the truth is they all went through Hell and Henry was the real monster the whole time. Jane's ballad was touching and beautiful because it gave a different insight to the heart of stone.

I loved Anne of Cleeves' Queen of the Castle song and how they connected her portrait story to a Tinder profile. I thought that was hilarious and the Haus of Holbein song made me think of Eurovision.

I also really loved Catherine Parr's song. I think I liked her the most from the characters in the musical because it tied everything together. She wasn't into outsinging the other girls and wanted to be known for what she did outside of being married to Henry VIII. Her song is also sad because she goes on about her love for Thomas Seymour, and if you know your history, you know he's sadly no better than the man she was forced to marry.

Six was a great show and since watching it, I've been listening to the soundtrack a lot. It's worth going to see if you get the chance.