SIX brings the house down as Henry's wives turn warring divas

REVIEW: SIX, Mayflower Theatre, Southampton, until August 15.
Six (previous cast)Six (previous cast)
Six (previous cast)

How fantastic to back in the Mayflower at last after all these months. How fantastic that the show to come back to is Six.

It’s a blast from first to last, full of fabulous cheek, tons of attitude and the cleverest lyrics around anywhere at the moment.

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It’s a brilliant premise, one alternative historians should have dreamt up years ago: Henry VIII’s six wives are reincarnated as pop divas and battle it out in song to decide which one of them had the hardest time married to the ghastly old goat.

There’s something completely irresistible about the fact that Anne Boleyn pitches her case in the style of Avril Lavigne, Miley Cyrus and Lily Allen.

And if you know your divas, you’ll love working out who’s behind the other five wives. But it hardly matters if you don’t. The fun is in the sheer variety of the songs, the poses the wives strike and the bitchiness that constantly erupts as various of them proclaim themselves the winner in the hard-done-by stakes.

The words are hilarious – which is why tonight’s Southampton showing paled just a little compared to the Chichester Festival Theatre run a couple of years ago – a venue in which every single word was crystal clear. Tonight the mixing just wasn’t right. Too many of the words were lost, too hard to hear against the live band on stage.

But the spirit of the show shone through wonderfully, thanks to a hugely talented cast which brought the house down. The standing ovation was instant at the end – and fair enough.