The Six Wives Of Henry VIII

Stu was kept busy working his way through the cast list.

Here’s the deal: Howard Coggins looks like Henry VIII. There's no escaping it. Stu Mcloughlin doesn't really look like any of the wives, but he's going to give it a go.
And from that simple premise, The Six Wives of Henry VIII was born.

Let’s be clear, this fun play doesn’t lay any claim to being historically accurate. Not a jot! But that’s OK. This is like Horrible Histories meets Blackadder, performed by two much-loved Bristolian actors.

Why do I say ‘much-loved’? Well, we’re talking about two of the chaps who’ve starred in all of the most fantastic plays in our city in recent years. Howard was in Treasure Island, while Stu is seemingly never off our stages – in the past 12 months alone, I’ve seen him in Swallows and Amazons as well as The Wild Bride.

And Stu’s experiences with Kneehigh (who produced The Wild Bride) are clear in The Six Wives of Henry VIII – most notably in the regular break-outs into country-blues songs, which are hummed by the delighted audience into the interval.

Throughout the first act, The Six Wives of Henry VIII goes from strength to strength. Our two actors are a delight, especially in the intimate space of the Old Vic’s Basement. They play off each other, they play off the audience and they’re having a hoot. The audience is in stitches and I’m laughing out loud at many points, sniggering at most others.

Howard makes an extremely convincing Henry VIII, and Stu makes a lovely harem of brides… so much so I find myself feeling sorry for poor Anne Boleyn when (spoiler alert) she gets beheaded.  

But while act one is a rollocking ride through Tudor history, aided by Britain’s Got Clerical Talent and a range of ill-fitting frocks, the second act is more of a struggle. It begins in a similar vein, and the laughs keep on coming… until about half way through, when a mock fight between Howard and Stu kicks off, which has no comedic value and lasts so long that I wondered if there was real deep rooted resentment between the actors.

But for that, The Six Wives of Henry VIII is hilarious. A genuinely feel-good, hot-water bottle of a play – and one that is worth watching simply for the scene where Henry and Anne of Cleeves perform a Kraftwerk-esque dance routine.

Howard and Stu are a cracking duo, and the combination of their commararderie and Kneehigh singing make this a fantastic few hours. I’d just like to see the ending tweaked for a more seamless flow.

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The Six Wives Of Henry VIII is performed in Bristol Old Vic’s Basement until 12 May. Bristol Old Vic is running a special offer at the moment, where your ticket is only £5 if you also book to see A Kind of Alaska/Krapp's Last Tape. Please click here for more details and to book tickets.

Music & Liberation project

Online archive

There’s an exciting online resource called the Women’s Liberation Movement Music Archive, which documents the bands, musicians and musical projects that were part of the burgeoning of creativity generated by the Women’s Liberation Movement (WLM) of the 1970s and 1980s.

During that era, women’s music, film and theatre groups, visual art, literature, performance art, street theatre and other activities proliferated, fusing artistic activities with politics to develop and express feminist ideas.

Feminist bands and musicians were not solely about providing entertainment, but also embodied a commitment to putting politics into practice and advancing women’s rights. Challenging sexism and stereotyped gender roles, their lyrics and style reflected the values of the WLM. They were a vital and integral part of the movement, yet are often omitted from, or marginalised by, the media and historical accounts.

Concerned that this part of women’s history was at risk of being lost, Dr Deborah Withers and Frankie Green believe the achievements of these music-makers should be mapped and celebrated. This work-in-progress collection comprises testimonies and interviews, discographies, gigographies and memorabilia – plus links to ongoing women’s music-making and feminist activism.

Touring exhibition

Music & Liberation, An Exhibition about Women’s Liberation Music Making in the UK (1970-1989) will show how feminists used music as an activist tool to entertain and empower women during the 1970s and 1980s. It brings together a diverse collection of women’s cultural heritage to inspire and inform contemporary audiences about the politics of music making.

The grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund was announced in January, and will be spent on a touring exhibition visiting the following venues:

Butetown History & Arts Centre, Cardiff  4 – 24 September

Bureau Gallery, Manchester, 27 September – 25 October

Glasgow Women’s Library, Glasgow, 29 October – 26 November

Space Station Sixty-Five, London 30 Nov – 15 Jan 2013

The HLF grant will pay for the high-quality digitisation of audio and visual material, including live performances, studio recordings, practices and TV appearances. A CD of music from Music & Liberation will be produced, and 10 new oral histories collected. The music, films and oral histories will be available to watch and listen to at the exhibition. Ephemera and artefacts such as posters, songbooks, t-shirts, instruments and flyers will also be displayed.

Click here for more information about the archive and exhibition. 

Birds of a Feather

They flock together, do birds of a feather – and seemingly these Chigwell sisters just can’t be separated either from each other or their sex-mad neighbour Dorien. Following a nine-year run of the BBC sitcom, Birds of a Feather has been brought to the stage and features the three original leading cast members: Pauline Quirke, Linda Robson and Lesley Joseph.

One of the things that made Birds of a Feather so popular and unique was that it stands as that rare beast – a sitcom focused on female characters. And now the stars have reunited to regenerate sisters Sharon and Tracey and brassy Dorien.

Sharon and Tracey are living a new life in Chigwell with Tracey’s younger son Travis, and battling on through their various problems of unemployment, low wages, agoraphobia and a big family secret – all dealt with in the brash, off-hand and blunt comedy manner you’d expect from these two. But their daily routine is shaken up when a blast from the past suddenly writes to them… and their lives are turned upside down when Dorien reappears, bringing with her as much excitement and drama as befits a woman of her reputation.

It’s a small cast of six, that’s supported by Robert Maskell as Roger Zimmerman, and Caroline Burns Cooke as DS Teddern, and it’s a welcome interruption to the intensity of the three leads to have the supporting actors appear on the stage and soften the impact of the somewhat relentless cheeky jokes and hen-do humour. It was a shame the supporting cast didn’t get more time on stage, especially Cooke as the no-nonsense detective, but Quirke, Robson and Joseph kept the packed audience in stitches throughout. And as the crowds filed out afterwards, I heard nothing but praise for the two-hour show.

I caught the production when it was at the end of its one-week run at Bath Theatre Royal, but Birds of a Feather is currently touring the UK until mid-July. Click here to see future dates and locations. To see what else is on at the Theatre Royal Bath, please click here.

What The Frock! flyer