Six the Musical has taken the world by storm since 2017, and this year takes the Canberra Theatre stage from Saturday 23 April.
The witty, pop-fuelled remix of history stars the Six wives of Henry VIII – Britain’s notorious Tudor King – as they take to the microphone to reclaim their stories.
Diversifying the Tudor queens by adding the essence of music royalty, like Beyonce and Rihanna, it’s the story of how royalty looked years ago represented by how “queens” look today.
Following a sold-out season at the Sydney Opera House, returning queens Kala (Boleyn), Loren (Seymore), Kiana (Cleves), and Vidya (Parr), and new queens Phoenix (Aragon) and Chelsea (Howard) took five (or six) minutes out with Canberra Daily’s Anja de Rozario.
1. How does it feel to be part of a show that grew from a student production to such an empowering and beloved musical?
Kala: “Empowering being a massive word. The show came from such humble beginnings. The writers were really just seeing if this thing would work and then it just went boom! That’s really relatable as women who write. Just wanting this piece that you’re passionate about to do well, and then suddenly it has these legs.”
Vidya: “Because it started off with no necessary ambition to be the next big thing, Six is so truthful in the way it talks about these women and rewrites their stories in a modern context. It appeals not just to women but to anyone who feels underrepresented. We’re all outsiders in some way or another, and the show speaks directly to that in Six different ways.
“For me, being a part of such a diverse range of voices on stage is absolutely at the heart of why I do this. Theatre was such a big part of my childhood. My family’s an immigrant family, from South Africa with Indian heritage, and there’s no reason as to why they loved theatre, but we just did. Still, I never, ever saw myself on stage. When I wanted to choose this as a career path, that was a huge thing for my family. They were so supportive, but worried that there wasn’t a space for me. What show am I going to be a part of? Could I ever play Eliza in My Fair Lady?
“When I started auditioning for commercial shows, I was getting all the way to the end of so many auditions, but always missing out at the last minute, for not being enough of ‘something’ or being too much of ‘something’.
“Before Six, I never knew what it was like to be in a commercial theatre audition room and be seen as a three-dimensional woman. Not as a brown woman walking in to fill in a brown role.”
2. Who is most similar to their character and in what way?
Vidya: “I don’t think you could say one of us is the most similar. We all have the essence of our characters. That’s the beauty of this show, we’re playing characters that are, in some ways, heightened versions of ourselves. It’s weird! (laughs) It’s not like any experience I’ve ever had.”
Loren: “It’s Vidya.”
Phoenix: “Vidya is Parr. She’s the most clever and intelligent person I’ve ever met, which is such Parr energy.”
Loren: “The way Parr switches the script; Vidya does that on the reg.”
Chelsea: “It must be Vidya, how she makes English sound like poetry is insane!”
Kiana: “She said something once while we were rehearsing, she goes, ‘I just don’t know how to express what I’m feeling.’ And I’m like, ‘Seriously? You’re the most articulate person I’ve ever met, but that’s cute that you think that’.”
3. If you weren’t playing your queen, which other would you choose and why?
Vidya: “Cleves! I don’t want to sing her song, but I want her story (laughs). Her song’s amazing but it’s a lot of work.”
Kala: “I reckon I’d want to try my hand at a swing roll. They’re the foundation of our show really. Or maybe a part of our band, the Ladies in Waiting.”
Phoenix: “Jane Seymore’s Heart of Stone is my favourite song. I get so emo up the back, every single night, raising my imaginary lighter. But if I were to play a different character, it would be Anne Boleyn. We call her the little chaos demon…”
Loren: “I’m going to be beige and say I wouldn’t play any other character. I feel more Jane Seymore than anybody else. Especially the goofy jokes she comes out with. That happens in real life! I’ll crack one and everyone goes, ‘Ughhh Loren’.”
Kiana: “This is going to sound bad, but I only want to play Anna [Cleves]. I went into that audition, and I was like, ‘Mine. That one.’ My energy was just so drawn to her that I can’t imagine being any other queen.”
Chelsea: “I always thought I was a Bobo [Boleyn]. There’s a part of me that thinks ‘Oh, I would love to be a swing’ but at the same time that’s such hard work.”
4. Each of the queens was inspired by a huge female name in music. Who else inspires your performance?
Vidya: “Malala Yousafzai inspires me; I find a lot of her in Parr. I’ve been listening about the incredible resilient women in Afghanistan and hearing how they’re survivors in their own story. We’re told that so many women, then and now, have no agency in their societies but the truth is we always do.”
Kiana: “Cleves is very Rihanna, although I also like to incorporate Cardi B. She has this attitude of ‘You can find me funny. And if you don’t, well, that’s alright, I’m going to be here anyways.’ Though we did lip sync battle during one rehearsal, and I rapped Lizzo’s Truth Hurts as Cleves.”
Chelsea: “I really connected [Howard] with Britney Spears and Ariana Grande because someone pointed out how their fame was very much portrayed through the male lens as they grew up. It kind of all clicked for me how to understand Katherine Howard, especially since [Grande and Spears] are also now reclaiming their stories as boss women.”
5. Six is all about rewriting history for historical women who didn’t have a voice when they were alive. If they could see how they’re portrayed now, what do you think they’d say?
Loren: “I reckon they’re having tea going ‘Finally. After how many years?’”
Kiana: “I think [Cleves, a German] would be confused as to why an Italian-Australian is running around making everyone laugh. But Anne of Cleves was so clever, and she really came out on top. She’s probably watching over like, ‘yeah, I was smart. I played the game right. You might think that I was cast aside, but I stayed in the world, let’s celebrate my incredible life.’”
Chelsea: “I think Howard would be proud, too. In her short life, she thought she was falling in love, and then the next guy to disappoint her came one after the other. But her song opens up a bunch of conversations about sexual assault and toxic relationships, in a really clever and vulnerable way.
“What has been beautiful is the messages I’ve gotten from mums writing ‘thank you so much for giving me a way to talk to my child about what that song meant’. This whole show allows so many different conversations around being a woman. Whether that be owning financial stability, sexual assault and harassment, motherhood and what that means.
Kiana: “Issues we’re still dealing with today. Now we’re just talking about them a bit more.”
6. Are you looking forward to coming to Canberra?
Phoenix: “I am absolutely looking forward to coming to Canberra. While I was road tripping last year, I really wanted fish and chips and I read so many reviews about this one place near Parliament – but it was closed! So that’s the first thing I’m going to try.”
Loren: “Canberra is just a breath of fresh air. Sydney is chaos, and it’d be nice to go someplace where you can drive 10 minutes out of the city and see a farm.”
Phoenix: “We’ve had a lot of Canberran fans in the ‘Queendom’ come down and watch the show and they’re so lovely.”
Loren: “I’m excited for them to experience it in their own city.”
Phoenix: “And get a history lesson but in a really fun, Spice Girl way!”
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