SIX

Creators Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss knew they wanted a show that experimented with the form of a “traditional” musical. In an initial meeting, the two decided to write a kind of manifesto of what they were trying to achieve. This six-point plan was essential in shaping their writing process, and explains why the show exists in the way it does:

1. We want to provide a different perspective on the six queens separate from their status as wives.
2. We will give female historical figures a voice to tell their own experiences—experiences that have, in the past, predominantly been told by men.
3. We aim to show that even 500 years later, there are still parallels to be found in the female experience.
4. We will show that women can tell stories together that are interesting, engaging, clever, and funny—stories told by women do not have to be about or include men in order to be entertaining.
5. We plan to use the pop concert genre to enable this fun, silly, comic, and powerful story to be told exclusively by women—but not just “for” women—and in order to facilitate our third aim.
6. All of the above needs to be done whilst above all acknowledging the silliness and campiness of its own genre and being self-aware of its own message; it should never be earnest or too sincere.

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