#six analysis

Plot:

The overall plot of Six remained the same over all productions of the show. At the end of the day, the student run still was about the Six wives of Henry VIII coming together and forming a girl group, while arguing over who should be the lead singer before finally coming together as one group. 

Run time:

The first biggest difference between the student run of Six and the current runs of Six is its vastly shorter run time. All professional versions of the show have clocked in around 75 minutes, give or take. However, the student run of Six is only 60 minutes long that results in a generally more streamlined version of the show. While this may not sound like a massive difference, it does mean that this version is essentially 25% shorter than usual and does have massive ripple effects for the show.  The first reaction most people have to listening to the student run is simply realising how streamlined it truly is, with there being very little dialogue between songs and what little dialogue there is sometimes being radically different. I mean the dialogue between Haus of Holbein often diverges into odd territories...which is saying something for Haus of Holbein. 

Different songs:

In addition, every song in the student run is somewhat different to its current counterpart. Some changes are relatively small, such as the occasional changed lyric  in Ex-Wives, Don’t Lose Ur Head or Six, or a slightly different tempo to Haus Of Holbein or Howard singing an extra chorus of AWYD. However...three songs (No Way, Heart of Stone and I Don’t Need Your Love) are widely different from their current counterparts, with all three having different lyrics and different tones, and No Way having similar yet still distinctly different musical elements to it. 

I could sit here all day trying to analyse why exactly these songs were altered, especially as I have an intense love for these more indie, earnest feeling versions of the tunes we all know and love. However, it is important to acknowledge that some of these older songs simply didn’t fit with the tone (or, dare I say, vibe) of newer versions of Six. They worked for the student run, but that does not mean it would have translated well to other productions.  

As for the megasix...it does not exist in this version of Six. The megasix will not make its debut until the studio production of Six, and even at that it is a very different version of the song. 

The Queens as Characters:

A definite by-product of the shorter run time and some different songs in the student run has to be the characterisation of the queens in general. Each version of these queens feel so different to the current productions of Six in their own unique way and it’s something I wish I had more time to analyse. Generally, since this was the first production, the student queens don’t always conform to the usual expectations we have of the queens from Six. My favorite example is always Student!Boleyn, who is still quite energetic but also has this openly well-spoken nature to her (or maybe its just her accent..I’m a 17 year old not a theater critic do not take this post for anything more than what it is). In fact, I would easily argue that the youngest performers of these queens had the most mature versions of their respective queens. Yes, they bicker, but queens like Seymour and Boleyn aren’t played for laughs and don’t become the butt of every joke like they sometimes do in newer versions. In addition, the less produced nature of the songs/musical arrangements makes some queens feel so genuine and earnest, like Student!Seymour not being able to cope with the loss of her son or student!Howard just being so empty and broken throughout the show. These characterizations manage to feel so real and be so impactful, even though this is a literal student production being run by 18-20 year olds. 

Now, I’m not saying that newer versions of the queens aren’t earnest or genuine or leave an impact because that is absolutely not true (the American versions of AYWD can literally break me). They just do this in a very different way...which makes sense considering that these are vastly different productions.   

However...the shorter run time does have a negative impact for some of the Queens, as it does feel like Aragon, Boleyn and Seymour get such a large portion of the show dedicated to them, leaving Cleves, Howard and ESPECIALLY Parr by the wayside. This is more of a structural issue with Six that is still in effect to this day, however, I feel like it is most noticeable in this production. I won’t go fully in to it here (I’d rather have a dedicated post to the student queen characterisations) but needless to say Parr teeters on the edge of being a Mary Sue in this production, saved only by her amazing IDNYL and the talent of  Shimali de Silva.

Musical arrangements:

While The Ladies in Waiting have sort of become characters in their own right within this fandom,people seem to forget that they didn’t make their debut until the U.K Tour in 2018 and were not named Maggie, Bessie, Joan and Maria until the West End run in 2019. Before this, the student and studio runs both had larger ensembles to back the queens up instead of being limited to guitar, bass, keys and drums. The student run’s arrangements are great (especially No Way and DLUH), but my favourite arrangements out of all versions of Six has to be the studio run, if only because I love that so many songs included jazz elements, especially No Way, Get Down and AYWD and how diverse everything sounded. While it’s great that the newer versions of Six feel more uniformly pop oriented rather than having lots of different elements like the studio and student runs, I do sort of miss the variety that the earlier versions of Six had to an extent.

In addition, because the student run of six was generally not as pop-oriented as the newer versions, it did mean that certain elements to songs are missing and the whole thing does feel less produced than newer versions (probably due to the budget and time constraints). This is not a slight to either version of the show however: the newer versions really drive home that the Queens are a pop-band with all the produced arrangements to match, which suits the direction that the show was intending to go, while the older versions of Six with their less produced arrangements suited the more indie, literal student oriented version of the show. 

Costumes:

Let’s be real here, the student cast costumes were not winning any awards for their costumes. They were odd, mismatched, clashed with one another and overall just didn’t even reflect the queens very well. While Boleyn and her little green dress was a nice outfit, and I seriously love the connotations of Parr being in white (although her in blue also works well connotations wise) Gabriella Slade was a serious god send to the show.

Increased diversity:

Another thing that Six was not winning any awards for in its earlier days was its diversity. While the student run does boast the only NB queen so far in the form of their majesty, Tilda!Cleves, five out of six of the queens were white, with only Parr being played by a WOC (Shimali de Silva). 

okay so here’s the thing babes

maybe vicki seymour doesn’t show as much emotion, or at the very least not in the way that natalie seymour or courtney seymour do

but here’s the thing, i don’t think that’s the kind of take vicki wanted to take on the role. don’t get me wrong, i love natalie and courtney seymour as much as the next person, i’m a sucker for them!! but i love the unique take vicki uses when tackling seymour

firstly, something i want to make very clear right off the bat, even though i already said it in the post linked above, is that i don’t think vicki seymour is interested in the competition aspect of it all. she probably wants to win, don’t get me wrong, but that’s not her main focus. her main focus is telling her story and showing she’s just as deserving of telling her stories as the other queens are

moving onto her speech, vicki sounds almost anxious when saying “i’m pretty sure it’s my turn next”. she knows how lucky she was (something she addresses as soon as the queens are done mocking her), and she knows that there’s a good chance the audience and the other queens won’t take her story seriously, and those fears (at least in relation to the queens) are indeed well founded.

she continues with that anxious note to her voice up until she starts talking about how excited she was for getting to see edward grow up, at which point she sounds softly excited. because she wanted to see him grow up, and get to know her son. she sounds even happy. but then the anxiety returns, only for her tone to turn mournful during “i didn’t get to see any of that.”

and now, we’re onto the part of her speech where she speaks about henry. after boleyn’s “there was this really cute moment where i had a daughter and he chopped my head off” comment, she sounds regretful, apologetic, even. she stays just as soft as she explains why henry’s previous two marriages failed- because henry wanted a submissive wife, which was not what aragon and boleyn were. and she doesn’t sound condescending or judgmental at all. she sounds appreciative and impressed. i dare say even jealous.

because, in my eyes, one of the key features of vicki seymour is that she knows. she knows exactly how much of a piece of shit henry was. and she wishes she had done more. she wishes she could’ve fought more against him, stood up to him like her predecessors had with no trouble at all. but, like she says, she didn’t do any of that. because a key feature to jane seymour’s character as a whole, not just vicki’s portrayal of her, is that she’s trying to keep herself safe (something that vicki brings into light in her portrayal, but more on that later). and to keep herself safe, she couldn’t have stood up to him. it was too big of a risk.

and so she stayed silent. she stood firm, doing her best to avoid being the focus of henry’s anger and doing her best to please him as they waited for her to be pregnant and/or for their child to be born. as much as it hurt, she had to stay quiet. and so she did. and not because she was weak. but because she loved him.

because regardless of how you feel about henry and what his and jane’s relationship was like, something undeniable is that jane loved him. maybe not anymore in the context of the show (and also depending on the portrayal we’re talking about, see post linked in the beginning for a better explanation) but at one point, she definitely did.

and as she says “it’s because… i loved him,” she sounds regretful, almost bitter. she’s bitter that she was fooled by him. she’s, dare i say, angry. not at herself (although there’s definitely some self anger mixed in there) but mainly at henry. that he did that to her. but like she says. she loved him. but not anymore.

which brings us into heart of stone itself, and here is where i start talking more about nina and laila’s analysis of vicki seymour (once again, thank you both for sharing it with me!!)

vicki starts the song in a very soft voice, one that she keeps throughout the first verse and chorus, as well as some of the second verse. i take this part of the song as her genuinely speaking about henry, in hushed whispers to make sure she’s heard by as less people as possible. she’s scared, she doesn’t want to be hurt. so she’s soft, submissive even, in hopes of avoiding henry’s anger.

but once we reach the part of the second verse where she’s singing about eddie, it shifts. she raises her voice, for the first time since the beginning of her speech, and she sounds protective, angry. and this time not in the slightly subtle way she did during the “i loved him” line. it’s clear that she’s pissed. she’s pissed she’s nothing to henry without her son. and i don’t think the “my love will still be here” line is directed at henry. it’s at eddie. a promise that, no matter what, her love for her son will stay here.

and it doesn’t soften, even as she gets into the chorus. this time, she’s open in how she feels. she’s actively and properly standing up for herself, for the first time since the beginning of her speech, and speaking her mind with a firm voice.

but she softens near the end, something she carries onto the third verse and her voice turns melancholic for the beginning of it while she speaks about her death, only to turn back into that determined firmness once she starts talking about how she’ll stand by her son’s side.

which leads me into the final chorus. and holy fuck, the changes aren’t that many but the few or, really one, that there is makes such a huge difference. once again, thank you nina and laila for sharing your analysis with me because i never would’ve noticed this without you pointing it out.

the only change is during the first time she sings the chorus. instead of the usual whistle notes or belting that most actresses do during the “i’m unshakable” line, she sings it along with the other queens.

this is a tiny change, admittedly, even if it’s incredibly noticeable because it’s the climax of the song, but it makes a world of difference. to quote what laila said when she told me about it, “nat and courtney are asking please listen but vicki is screaming you will listen to me, in the face of the other queens laughing before hos.”

she’s done. she’s done with having to hide herself and beg for scraps of attention. she’s here and she is going to tell her story because she is damn worthy of it, and to hell with what everyone else thinks she’s worthy of or not. this anger is something she has in common with abby seymour, but unlike abby seymour, it is not her defining characteristic.

because you see anon, here is where the idea that vicki brings out the “keeping herself safe” aspect of jane’s character comes into play. because, while the defining characteristic of natalie’s portrayal is heartbreak and courtney’s is protectiveness (again, see post linked at the beginning) and abby’s is anger, vicki’s is self love, or better yet, self empowerment.

she’s angry, yes. but instead of using her energy to rage about henry like i get the impression of abby seymour doing, she uses it to bring herself up and onto the spotlight, to show that she deserves to be there and to tell her story every bit as much as the other queens do. to show that, just because she was “the only one he truly loved,” it doesn’t mean she didn’t have problems to deal with.

So one of the things @lessix’s post mentions is the “angry black woman” stereotype that’s used often with Aragon and Cleves in fanfics. While, of course, everyone gets angry and everyone breaks, I haven’t really seen anyone bring this up when talking about Anna.

Anna of Cleves is conflict averse.

This doesn’t mean she’s meek, far from it, in fact, she’s incredibly powerful and confident in the show.

But she isn’t aggressive. On the contrary, if you look at her during the fight scene at the end (a fight scene primarily initiated by Aragon, Boleyn, Seymour, and Howard), she’s doing her absolute best not to intervene. When Parr makes her speech, you can see on Anna’s face that she doesn’t think Cathy is wrong, but chose not to create more conflict. Meanwhile, you can see her, at various points in the fight scene, diffusing moments of high tension by throwing in a lighthearted, comedic line as a distraction. Never once in the show does she provoke or belittle another queen (except maybe when they’re questioning Jane and Cathy in those sections, I’m not sure what she says there, but I don’t think that’s provoking, I can see where they’re coming from). Never once does she say something mean or seem to have a temper at all.

So. At least in the show, she is not aggressive. She is, in fact, seemingly doing everything she can to avoid conflict. The question is, why?

Well, let’s take a look at Anna’a life. She was raised to be a bargaining chip from the very time she was a child. She was even engaged to someone from a young age, but that didn’t work out. She was raised to be a political tool, which meant not speaking up and not making waves. Already, we can see part of this mindset of being conflict averse to the extreme, even more so than Cathy Parr, who causes conflict for a good cause, beginning to set in.

So, when Anna had just reached adulthood, she was shipped over to a scary foreign country where she couldn’t speak the language to marry a creepy old guy who had exiled, beheaded, and abused his previous three wives. From the moment she got there, she knew their marriage was not going to be a happy one.

In some ways, Anna is the one who survived. She outlived all the other queens, came out of her marriage without having been arrested (or almost arrested), exiled, or dying. But that isn’t to say she hasn’t been negatively affected.

Because the way Anna survived her marriage was by avoiding conflict and not putting up a fight.

And now she’s so conflict averse that she has a hard time (in the show) pointing out when the other queens are wrong. She either just tries to smooth things over or just observes.

That isn’t to say you can’t write a fic where she gets angry, or breaks, or is damaged in other ways. But I feel like more people should talk about this.

One of the main criticisms I see of six is that it isn't "feminist enough" or that the feminist message falls short. Timeout reviewer Holly Williams calls six "So basic in it's feminism" and other reviewers have similar feelings. Sure, you can only look at the surface level of the show and write it off as preaching a vapid, commercial girl power version of feminism.  However, six is far from that , not only in its content , but it's format as well.

When writing the show Marlow and Moss knew they wanted to write a show full of strong, funny female leads. This itself is rare in musical theatre , where three female primary characters is usually the max. Notice I didn't say lead, because when it's three , usually they aren't all the focus of the show. Take Hamilton, where out of the three female characters,only two can really be constituted as main characters, and maybe one can be considered a lead. Six has well, six leads, all of  which have solos. Their solos are not telling a man's story, they aren't a part of a side story, they are telling their own story that is integral to the show. Now you may be thinking "but they are telling a man's story, Henry's !" However, six does far from that, the focus of these songs are the queens. When important parts of Henry's life are discussed or told, they are always in relation to one of the queens and how that affected her. Sure, the reformation of the church is something Henry VIII did , but really it involves Anne Boleyn and Catherine of Aragon and largely impacted their lives.

The main thing that critics bring up in relation to the shows feminism, is it's plot. The queens are competing to essentially see who had the most trauma . This feels strange for a show that brands itself as feminist, but shows something many people don't consider; how the queens would interact with eachother. Many of them were each others downfall and out of the ones who did meet, few had amicable relationships. Realistically, they would have viewed each other as competition and to imagine them competing against one and other isn't far fetched. It also shines a light on  that many people experience, especially women. This is something that also happens in other marginalized communities and within society as a whole. We have a tendency to compare experiences and trauma , to see who is the most oppressed, who is the most deserving of the title of whatever group their from . Essentially six looks at the same thing, and by the end of the show, the queens realize that comparing trauma does not help them and only takes away from their stories,when in reality they all had struggles. They understand that to truly shine above Henry , they have to help each other tell their stories. The message is that to really tell the stories of women often tossed aside, we have to not compare and instead uplift and support. And that sounds pretty feminist to me.