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Sara Keating: Henry VIII’s ex-Queens celebrate girl power in smash-hit musical

The sell-out run of Six at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre had an audience of mostly young women, some in costume, who sang along throughout

Six creators Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss employ the giddy energy of the Spice Girls to bring the dead queens to life, musically dipping into all of modern pop with everyone from Beyoncé to Britney to Adele getting a nod

“Alas my love you do me wrong, to cast me off discourteously.” These are the famous first words of the traditional English folk song Greensleeves, which is played discordantly on an electronic harpsichord as the audience take their seats for Six. It’s a musical comedy based on the lives of Henry VIII’s six wives; a half-dozen women determined to elevate themselves from historical footnotes to leading characters.

First performed by a group of Cambridge students ...