Royal performance of musical Six – a show about the wives of Henry VIII

Staged in the round, the all-female cast sang and kicked ass from the first song until the encore.

Clad in rock chick chic, basques, short skirts, fishnets and Bovver boots, the sextet were all sass and attitude as they stalked the stage like prize fighters ready to take on all comers.

Six is an award-winning musical about the wives of Henry VIII. Most schoolchildren are taught to remember them thus: Katherine of Aragon, survived; Anne Boleyn, beheaded; Jane Seymour died; Anne of Cleves, survived; Katherine Howard, beheaded and Catherine Parr, survived.

Two casts alternated performances and I saw members of Marlow bring the queens to life. The show begins with a group number and then, one by one, the queens take to the stage to tell their story of life and love with Henry in their own style.

As well as a history lesson, Six is a celebration of some of pop’s most talented female artists.

Step forward Jessica Lopez-Bland who channelled Beyonce in her take on the stoic royal lady – Catherine of Aragon – who had been married to Henry’s brother before marrying the Tudor titan.

Betsy Brewis was the blousy, flirty Anne Boleyn and was well-suited to the Lily Allen, Avril Lavigne vibe.

Outstanding was Blossom Harrison delivering a belter of a ballad in the style of Celine Dion. While the others could groove and grind, Seymour was reputedly far more demure as Henry’s true love and the performance had to reflect that and the tragedy of a woman dying so young.

Rhianna was to the fore as Molly Garvey-Fereday made Anne of Cleeves – rejected by Henry for being ugly – defiant and no one’s patsy.

There was a lot of Ariana Grande and Britney Spears to Kendall Burrows’ treacherous minx Katherine Howard who found herself the chattel of an overweight, ageing, sick and impotent tyrant.

Molly Hill was the youthful Catherine Parr and gave the woman, who had a lucky escape, an Alicia Keys/Emelie Sande vibe.

The round suited the pop-concert style delivery of the show, with each queen performing her solo number and then returning to her throne – suitably dressed to reflect their individual owners – arranged around the stage.

Six is much more than a collection of pop anthems. Behind the beat and rhyme are revelations about the six women, their choices and the social and political forces that shaped their lives and fates.

As one of them sang: What choice did I have? This is not so much history as ‘her-story’.

Six: Teen Edition was directed by Alex Weatherhill, the mastermind behind a resurgence of musical theatre in Scarborough, and was cleverly choreographed by Sarah Golder.

Scarborough College is on a mission to give Lisvane Hall – where all its shows are presented – a makeover. It wants to install state-of-the-art lighting and sound and improve the seating.

It rained the night I saw it and the roof leaked, proving that the venue needs money spent on it.

It did nothing, though, to dampen what was a right, royal performance. There was no raining on the Six’s parade.