The Tudor Fashion Elements of the Costumes in Six (with Painting References!)

January 18, 2020 by Rachael Dickson in theater, English History

All My Six Posts!
Over-Analyzing All the Historical References in Six- “Ex Wives,” “No Way,” “Don’t Lose Your Head” “Heart of Stone” “Haus of Holbein” “Get Down”
The Tudor Crown Inspiration in Six’s Logo; The Tudor Fashion Elements of the Costumes in Six (with Painting References)
Six the Musical Wives 1-3: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations; Six the Musical Wives 4-6: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations
The Ladies in Waiting of Six: Historical Inspirations and Costumes; Details from Six Costumer Gabriella Slade’s Instagram Takeover
The Early Costumes of Six the Musical: From Edinburgh to Cambridge to London
Updated Six the Musical Costumes for Broadway!; The Shoes of Six the Musical
The Alternate Costumes of Six the Musical; How the Six Alternates Change Their Styling for Each Queen
Virtual Dance Workshops and Q&As with Different Six Cast Members!

There are lots of specific Tudor fashion elements found in the Queens' looks when you look closely! I compiled a LOT of painting references and closeups on the costumes so you can see exactly what I’m talking about. These are elements that show up in other musicals and plays set in Tudor times as well, and I’ll try to add references to those soon, as there are, of course, many other works than just Six, lol.

Since I’m going to be talking about a few different periods of history here, I’m going to do a quick overview of the years we’re working with:

The Tudor period started under Henry VII, Henry VIII’s dad, when he defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth. Henry VII reigned from 1485-1509.
Henry VIII lived from 1491-1547 and reigned from 1509-1547.
- Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536) - was married to Henry from 1509-1533.
- Anne Boleyn (~1501-1507 - 1536) - was married to Henry from 1533-1536.
- Jane Seymour (~1508-1537) - was married to Henry from 1536-1537.
- Anne of Cleves (1515-1557) - was married to Henry in part of 1540.
- Catherine Howard (~1523-1542) - was married to Henry from 1540-1542.
- Catherine Parr (1512-1548) - was married to Henry from 1543-1547 (when he died).
Edward VI (Henry VIII’s son with Jane Seymour, 1537-1553) reigned from 1547-1553.
Mary I (Henry VIII’s daughter with Catherine of Aragon, 1516-1558) reigned from 1553-1558.
Elizabeth I (Henry VIII’s daughter with Anne Boleyn, 1533-1603) reigned from 1558-1603.

^The gable hood of Catherine of Aragon, the French hood of Anne Boleyn, and Catherine Parr’s feathered hat.

Hairpieces/Head Coverings: Every queen wears a headpiece or hair piece of some sort but they have different styles; this represents that in Tudor times, ALL women would have their hair covered in some way at all times (ignore the hair in The Tudors y'all, it's just...hilariously wrong).

Famous hats included the Gable hood (seen on Catherine of Aragon and Jane Seymour) and the French hood (popularized by Anne Boleyn and seen in her portrait and in Katherine Howard's supposed portrait). Women even started wearing male hat styles at times, as seen in Catherine Parr’s portrait.

^These photos demonstrate the square necks and the plentiful jewelry and neck elements evoking jewelry both in Tudor portraits and the costumes of Six.

Jewelry/Bling: Necklaces and jewelry were big in Tudor times, noble ladies would often wear lots of rings, bracelets, and several necklaces. You can see this in their portraits. The Six Queens play off this by wearing a lot of different sparkly jewelry in their costumes as well. Aragon has a huge pile of gold necklaces, they all wear earrings, Anne Boleyn wears sparkly fingerless gloves, both Boleyn and Howard wear their initial necklaces, and the neckline details seen in the costumes of Seymour, Cleves, and Howard, all evoke the jewelry seen in so many of these portraits.

Necklines: Wide and low cut square necks were very big under Henry VIII, you can see this in the necklines of several of the queens' costumes, including Catherine of Aragon and Anne of Cleves (if you ignore the cross crossing detail on Cleves’ costume). Jane Seymour and Katherine Howard also have wide and low cut necklines, although this is more of a sweetheart look.

Sleeves: All Tudor women would have worn long sleeves coming down at least to the wrist, and sometimes below that. These long sleeves, or elements of them, at least, are seen in the costumes of Catherine of Aragon, Jane Seymour, and Katherine Howard.

Lacing: There's a lot of lacing elements prevalent in the main queens' outfits and in the alternates outfits, in various pairs of pants, sleeves, and necklines, and connections between tops and bottoms. Most of these are cross lacing (Xes) and others evoke spiral lacing or even ladder lacing. These even show up in some of the fabric patterns and the way they’re cut and laid out! This looks to be a reference to the side, front, and back ties often found on Tudor gowns, although in reality, Tudor gowns were generally spiral laced or ladder laced rather than cross laced (Xes); what you see at renaissance faires is not generally accurate. You can see what I mean in the collection of painting references; all of these show spiral lacing or ladder lacing except for one Italian painting, which shows Xes which are almost certainly more decorative than practical. The other forms of lacing are simply more supportive and adjustable, which is the entire idea behind having lacings in an outfit anyway, after all.

Major thanks to Festive Attyre’s post on spiral lacing for all their painting references for this section.

Boning/Stay Type elements: I believe the strong vertical and diagonal stripes present in all the queens' costumes, and specifically those that “look” supportive may refer to boning within dresses and supportive stays. These aren’t overtly Tudor, as they’re generally associated with later time periods, and I unfortunately don’t have any painting references for this because they were explicitly /underwear/ and not something that would show up in art, but we do know that whalebone was used for support in women’s garments at least by the time of Elizabeth I’s death, as her effigy wore a corset containing whalebone. I’ve included a picture of the effigy corset and a few pictures of historical reproduction corsets so you can see what I mean.

Ruffs: Big neck ruffs are seen on The Ladies in Waiting (the in-house, on stage, all female band) and during the Haus of Holbein number. Neck ruffs like this ARE Tudor, but weren’t seen until quite a while after Henry VIII’s death; you didn't really see neck ruffs until Elizabeth I. (if you’d like to read more about the Ladies in Waiting’s costumes and historical influences, I have a whole blog post on that over here!)

Split Skirts/Contrasting Underskirt: The open front skirt, revealing hot pants under it, are a pretty obvious style reference to the classic Tudor dress look where a kirtle (underdress) was layered under a contrasting overdress. This isn’t too obvious in a lot of the six wives’ portraits, but you can totally see it in the above portrait of Princess Elizabeth (the future Elizabeth I).

Howard is the only main queen that has this style of skirt (Aragon does too, but hers blends in with the rest of her gold and black and isn’t a distinctly contrasting color), but a LOT of the alternate costumes have this look.

Quick and Short Six the Musical Costume Update (AUSTRALIA)

January 09, 2020 by Rachael Dickson in Around the House, theater

The Australia version of Six the Musical debuted! And just looking through the pictures of the cast, I could see that the Anne of Cleves costume and the Katherine Howard costume have been updated.

Cleves: The sleeves look like they're cut differently now; the sleeves of the Australian version stick out at more of an upward angle than the West End costume's sleeves.

The stripes on the top are positioned differently as well. In the original West End version, the silver beading is positioned close to the bottom of the black fur stripes, while the Australian version has silver beading at the top and bottom of the red stripes It also looks like the red in the Australian costume stripes have some sort of pattern on them, regularly spaced out dots. It's not quite clear in the photos whether these dots are beads, cloth, leather imprint, or what have you, but it's definitely there.

The original Cleves collar is significantly higher than the Australian version.

The Cleves shorts still have chains, but they're much more complicated than they used to be. There's now a peplum detail along the top of the shorts under the red stripe/silver beading and red and black stripes are laid out in a chevron pattern on both sides of the shorts.

The Australia Cleves costume most resembles the teal costume shorts (Cleves variation) worn by Cherelle Jay of the West End cast, but her shorts appear to just have diagonal stripes on the side rather than chevrons.

Howard :UPDATED 01/15/2020: Actually, I just found out about the Bryony Duncan Howard outfit, and that’s obviously the closest ancestor to this updated skirt. The Australia Howard skirt also appears to be more structured and sticks out further, which may be due to the hatched fabric's stiffness and/or the different cuts of the fabrics used on the skirt. It may also be slightly shorter than the West End version; it's hard to tell.

[original musings] It looks like the same black striped mesh fabric is in use all over both the West End and the Australia outfits, but the pink fabric has changed up a bit. In addition to the original sheer pink fabric used on the skirt, there's now a slightly less sheer pink fabric with black hatching on it; the skirt's panels alter between sheer and sheer with hatching and there's now a bottom border of the sheer with hatching fabric. There's also more silver beading throughout the skirt. This fabric with hatching is also incorporated into the alternating style panels on the bodice and on the bodice's top sleeves. It also looks like the hatching fabric may be used on the back of the bodice as well.

The Howard changes look like they incorporate a lot of the styles found [in the opalescent pink alternate costume skirt currently worn by Zara MacIntosh in the west end cast, the black alternate costume skirt worn by Colette Guitart in the West End Cast (which has more of the sheer alternating fabric panels look), and the teal alternate costume skirt worn by Jennifer Caldwell on the UK Tour.]

The Shoes of Six the Musical

December 08, 2019 by Rachael Dickson in theater

The queens and alternates in Six all wear super amazing sparkly shoes that are custom fit to each actor! I don’t really have any analysis to give on them, but just look how lovely they are! Quick Disclaimer: I got all these shoe photos off Instagram and although I’ve matched them to the characters (based off of captions), I’m not sure which actors has actually worn what shoes (unless I’ve specifically stated otherwise).

Catherine of Aragon, portrayed by Jarneia Richard-Noel. (Idil Sukan)

Anne Boleyn, portrayed by Millie O’Connell. (Photographer Unknown)

Jane Seymour, portrayed by Natalie Paris. (Photographer Unknown)

UPDATED 02/21/2020: New boots for the U.K. tour Jane Seymour, Lauren Byrne. They look almost identical to the previous ones but the buckles and straps appear to have more crystals on them this time!

Anne of Cleves (Alexia McIntosh) in the West End production of Six, Unknown Photographer

NEW- Cleves’ BRILLIANT new bedazzled thigh high boots on Broadway! I don’t have any better photos but will keep looking out for them. These are screen caps of a video from @Zoennis on Instagram - thank you!

Katherine Howard (Aimie Atkinson), Photo by Idil Sukan.

Catherine Parr (Maiya Quansah-Breed - West End) (Unknown photographer)

Vicki Manser in her alternate costume (UK). Manser now plays Howard.

The shoes for the blue-wearing alternate.

Alternates Grace Mouat and Collette Guitart (West End)

How the Six Alternates Change Their Styling For Each Queen

December 01, 2019 by Rachael Dickson in theater

As I covered in my previous post about Six the Musical, Six is unusual in that its alternates actually wear different costumes than the main queens, in different colors and styles. They indicate which queen they’re playing each night with different hair styling and makeup. I’ve tried to compile pictures of as many alternates as I can playing each role so you can get an idea of how this works!

I should note that there are a few outliers in the styling for each queen; it’s hard for me to tell whether those are due to changing standards over time or what.

Catherine of Aragon: From left to right on the top row, we’ve got Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert (US), Cassy Lee (UK Tour), and Vicki Manser (West End) and on the bottom row, we’ve got Zara McIntosh (West End), Grace Mouat (West End), and Courtney Stapleton (West End). As you can see, Aragon generally has big hair (although this is interpreted differently based on how much hair the alternate has to begin with) and big spikes worn on a headband.

courtney%2Baragon%2Bvicki%2Bboleyn%2Bgrace%2Bhoward.jpg

Anne Boleyn: From left to right on the top line, Jennifer Caldwell (UK tour), Bryony Duncan (Cruise), and Cherelle Jay (West End), and on the bottom row, Vicki Manser (West End), Zara McIntosh (West End), and Courtney Stapleton (West End). Boleyn is portrayed with double buns, usually with half of the hair down and with adorable little spike cuffs around them. Boleyn also usually has wristbands, unless the costume already has long sleeves on it. And of course, they all wear the “B” necklace!

Jane Seymour: From left to right on the top line, Jennifer Caldwell (UK tour), Collette Guitart (West End), and Mallory Maedke (US) and on the bottom row, Courtney Stapleton (West End), Hana Stewart (West End), and Harriet Watson (UK Tour). Seymour is portrayed with her hair half back with a headband with subtle, small spikes.

Anne of Cleves From left to right on the top line, Cherelle Jay (West End), Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert (US), and Cassy Lee (UK Tour), and on the bottom row, Vicki Manser (West End), Grace Mouat (West End), and Courtney Stapleton (West End). The Cleves variation on each alternate’s outfit seems pretty standardized, as you pretty much always see her in shorts and a crop top with a fur jacket over it. Cleves’ hair changes up a bit but is generally pulled back with at least some spikes in it, sometimes very big ones, like Aragon’s, and sometimes more subtle ones.

Katherine Howard: From left to right on the top line, Jennifer Caldwell (UK tour), Collette Guitart (West End), and Mallory Maedke (US), and on the bottom row, Vicki Manser (West End), Zara McIntosh (West End), and Grace Mouat (West End). Howard is almost always portrayed with a high, long ponytail and a little spike cuff, although it looks like Vicki wears hers half down as well.

I find it really interesting that although the main Katherine Howard wears a “K'“ necklace, much like Anne Boleyn’s “B,” it doesn’t look like the alternates do! I can’t tell if they’re actually wearing black chokers or if those are part of the costumes themselves though; it looks like those tend to be standardized though, as Mallory, Grace, and Collette all appear to be wearing black chokers when they play other queens as well.

Catherine Parr: From left to right on the top line, Collette Guitart (West End), Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert (US), and Grace Mouat (West End), and on the bottom row, Courtney Stapleton (West End), Hana Stewart (West End), and Harriet Watson (UK Tour). Parr is generally portrayed with a spiky headband (worn more forward on the head than Seymour’s), but it looks like the alternates otherwise have some freedom as to how they style their hair.

#ShakespearesPlaylist: A Midsummer Night's Dream

November 30, 2019 by Rachael Dickson in theater

This is part of the #ShakespearesPlaylist series! You can read all of those posts here!

A scene from the 1999 film version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, featuring Michelle Pfeiffer as Titania and Kevin Kline as Nick Bottom.

So I LOVE finding songs to fit the mood of #Shakespeare plays. Basically every time I hear a song I love on the radio, I think about how I could fit it into a production. I can’t help it. My brain just does that, which is funny, because I’ve only directed one production (my own one-act) and questioned myself and my abilities the entire time, so I don’t necessarily see myself directing anything else any time soon, but I just like to dream about the music anyway.

I’ve decided to play with this habit of mine more and make full-fledged Spotify and Youtube playlists for each play by Shakespeare, under the umbrella name and hashtag #ShakespearesPlaylist .

This week we’re looking at A Midsummer Night’s Dream, one of the most loved and commonly performed Shakespeare plays! And why not? It has fairies, magic, love, mistaken love, hilariously inept actors, and general shenanigans galore; it’s considered one of the most accessible and kid-friendly of the bard’s works. It’s also Shakespeare’s second shortest play at 16,511 words (the actual shortest is Comedy of Errors, which is 14,701 words), which makes it a great choice for community productions and films. You don’t have to make as many cuts to it as you would to say, Hamlet (30,557! There’s a reason it’s rarely performed in full without cuts.), to fit it into a reasonable period of time for a modern audience.

Quick Wikipedia Summary: Midsummer has three main interwoven plots and one plot which serves as a frame story for all the others. The frame story is that the Duke Theseus of Athens and Hippolyta, the Queen of Amazons, are getting married, and everyone’s coming together for the celebration.

The first plot focuses on the lovers- Hermia is in love with Lysander, but her father Egeus wants her to wed Demetrius (to the extent that he threatens to kill her if she doesn’t do what he wants!). Hermia arranges to run away with Lysander and tells her best friend Helena about it, swearing her to secrecy. Helena pines after her former lover Demetrius, who broke up with her to chase after Hermia, and somehow thinks that telling Demetrius about Hermia and Lysander’s plans will endear him to her.

The second plot looks to the fairy king Oberon and fairy queen Titania, who are currently quarreling, as Titania refuses to give a child in her care to Oberon (the child’s mother was one of her worshippers). Oberon summons fairy Puck (also known as Robin Goodfellow) to fetch a flower with magical properties - when applied to a person’s eyes during sleep, that person, upon waking, falls in love with the first living thing they see. Oberon intends to use this to charm Titania so he can steal the child from her while she’s obsessed with some other being.

The third plot focuses on a group of common Athenians (“Rude Mechanicals”) who are putting together a comically inept production of Pyramus and Thisbe to perform at the Duke’s wedding. While rehearsing in the forest, Puck plays a trick on Bottom, the most arrogant member of the troupe, and gives him the head of a donkey, which frightens all his friends away.

These plots all become quickly interwoven. Oberon applies the love flower to Titania’s eyes while she is sleeping so that he can take away the child while she’s distracted; the first thing she sees upon waking is the donkey-headed Bottom. Shenanigans ensue! In addition, Oberon, after seeing Demetrius spurn the pathetic Helena, orders Puck to apply the love flower to Demetrius’s eyes. Puck mistakenly initially gives the flower to Lysander instead, who spies Helena upon waking and professes his undying love for her, abandoning Hermia in the woods in the process. Puck tries to amend this by also giving the flower to Demetrius, but all this does is result in Demetrius and Lysander fighting over Helena, who is convinced that both of them are making fun of her. Hermia flies into a rage over the whole situation and attacks Helena. Further shenanigans ensue!

In the end, Puck removes the flower from Lysander’s eyes and all the lovers end up happy and married by the end. Bottom also is returned to his prior shape as a human and Titania’s love potion is removed after Oberon steals the child; the fairy queen and the king reunite. They all gather together to celebrate Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding and watch the Rude Mechanicals’ play, poking fierce fun at the hapless actors in the process.

First up on the playlist is The Beatles’ She’s Leaving Home, referencing Hermia running away from her father’s house to be with Lysander. To be fair, he literally threatened to kill her if she didn’t marry Demetrius so…good decision.

Wednesday morning at five o'clock
As the day begins
Silently closing her bedroom door
Leaving the note that she hoped would say more

She goes downstairs to the kitchen
Clutching her handkerchief
Quietly turning the backdoor key
Stepping outside, she is free

She(we gave her most of our lives)
Is leaving (sacrificed most of our lives)
Home (we gave her everything money could buy)
She's leaving home, after living alone, for so many years (bye bye)

Next up is Kanye West’s Heartless, referring to how heartlessly Demetrius treats Helena. Just switch the gender in the chorus lyrics and it applies perfectly to the situation.
“In the night I hear ‘em talk” - everyone knows about what Demetrius did to Helena; Lysander uses it as an example for why Hermia should be with him, and Theseus admits that he’s heard of Demetrius’s behavior and had wanted to talk to him about it.

In the night, I hear 'em talk
The coldest story ever told
Somewhere far along this road, [she] lost [her] soul to a [man] so heartless
How could you be so heartless?
Oh, how could you be so heartless?

David Bowie’s Magic Dance, from the movie Labyrinth, is a personal favorite of mine. I’ve loved that movie since I was just a child. And fortunately, it’s all about magic, dancing and kidnapping children, all things that are very present in Midsummer!

I saw my baby, trying hard as babe could try
What could I do?
My baby's fun had gone
And left my baby blue
Nobody knew
What kind of magic spell to use
Slime and snails
Or puppy dogs tails
Thunder or lightning
Then baby said

Dance magic, dance (dance magic, dance)
Dance magic, dance (dance magic, dance)
Put that baby's spell on me (ooh)
Jump magic, jump (jump magic, jump)
Jump magic, jump (jump magic, jump)
Put that magic jump on me (ooh)
Slap that baby, make him free

Billie Holiday’s You Go to My Head stands for Helena’s feelings for Demetrius. She loves him hopelessly and desperately; even though it seems like their relationship is truly over and he’s not interested any more, she pursues him.

The thrill of the thought
That you might give a thought to my plea
Casts a spell over me
Still I say to myself "Get a hold of yourself"
Can't you see that it never can be

You go to my head
With a smile that makes my temperature rise
Like a summer with a thousand Julys
You intoxicate my soul with your eyes
Though I'm certain that this heart of mine
Hasn't a ghost of a chance in this crazy romance
You go to my head

The Chordettes’ Mr Sandman refers simultaneously to a magical figure bringing sleep and love to the singer and the titular “dream.” After the night is over, all the humans involved in the shenanigans believe they have only dreamed of falling in love with various different people and having donkey’s heads and such.

Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream
Make him the cutest that I've ever seen
Give him two lips like roses and clover
Then tell him that his lonesome nights are over

Mr. Sandman, I'm so alone
Don't have nobody to call my own
So, please turn on your magic beam
Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream

I actually have been really struggling to find a song that represents the Rude Mechanicals and had some trouble. Yackety Sax maybe, but I already used that for my #ShakespearesPlaylist on The Comedy of Errors. What do y’all think? In any case, here’s an old video of The Beatles performing the Pyramus and Thisbe scene of Midsummer with a few other random dudes I don’t know on a variety show they hosted in 1964!

Finally, I’m closing out this post with a video of the recent production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, put on by my Shakespeare troupe The Britches and Hose! I’m not in it (I didn’t have a car at the time so I didn’t try out, no good way to get to rehearsals), but half my friends are! Also it’s the funniest version of this play I have EVER seen and you can probably hear me laughing hysterically throughout.

What suggestions do y’all have for A Midsummer Playlist? Please commen tor send them to me @RachaelDickzen on Twitter ! I’d love to hear your ideas. :)

Shakespeare English History/War of the Roses Family Tree: Unnatural Deaths

November 20, 2019 by Rachael Dickson in English History, theater

Taking a quick break from coverage of The Crown season 3 (don’t worry, I’ll have another post up later today!) to get back to Wars of the Roses for a minute. I’ve heard it said before that a lot of Tudor history was influenced by the Wars for the purely practical reason that most of the nobles with a claim to the throne were killed off. Really, Henry VII had a pretty weak claim to the throne, and a big reason Henry VIII’s daughters were allowed to take the crown was because there really weren’t any viable male alternatives. I decided to test this out myself by simply crossing off all the people on my family tree who were killed “unnaturally,” that is, not dying of old age or illness. I may have missed a few side people here, as my history knowledge gets shakier the further back we go or the more Scottish we get, so please let me know if you see anyone I’ve missed!

If you missed seeing the original Shakespeare English History Royal Family Tree, it’s over here.

war of the roses family tree all the dead people.jpg

The Wars of the Roses: A Timeline of Main Events

November 11, 2019 by Rachael Dickson in theater, English History

My English history obsession continues! I made this to help me teach a Richard III cast about the background and all the history references in the play! I probably went overboard, per usual, but oh well.

I designed this timeline in Powerpoint and got it printed out at Staples as a “blueprint/architectural and engineering print.” This is SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than printing it as a poster, and you can just buy a foam board yourself and use rubber cement to paste it on if you need it to have more stability.

I had fun trying to come with titles for this timeline:

Puns 'n' Roses: The Greatest Hits
Bunches about The War of the Roses
War of the Rose 1 2 and 3: Too Many Henrys
Budding Conflicts in Medieval England
Lancaster and York's Wild Ride
Bouquet of Death
A Rose is a Rose is a Rose and All these People are Cousins
Reasons Why Henry VIII Wanted a Son
Roses in Bloom
The War of "There Are Only Four Names in this Family"
"You'll Need Rosé to Get Through this Timeline"
Red, the Rose of Angry Lancasters, White, the Rose of Angry Yorks
Red and White and Warwick All Over
Henry Tudor Rose to the Occasion
Roses are Red; Roses are White. Richard III will kill you on sight.
A War by any other name would be just as bloody.

You can download the full file here!

I’m pretty happy with how this came out but it’s still a work in progress. Any input is appreciated! And please feel free to use this in your own theater groups or classes as needed. Please let me know if you do though, I’d love to hear about it!

My Obsessive Shakespeare English History Play Family Tree (from Richard II, Henry IVs, Henry V, Henry VIs, Richard III, AND NOW HENRY VIII))

November 10, 2019 by Rachael Dickson in English History, theater

Originally published October 21, 2019

Things I should have blogged about today: Six the Musical costumes (still working on it!), things I learned at the Emerging Writers Festival, the authors I met at the National Book Festival, TudorCon (just got back!), More #ShakespearesPlaylist

Things I actually worked on today: An overly detailed family tree of English monarchs involved in the Hundred Years’ War and the Cousins’ War (also known as the War of the Roses), as portrayed in various Shakespeare plays, including Richard II, Henry IV Part 1 and 2, Henry V, Henry VI Part 1, 2, and 3, and Richard III. This started as a way for me to sort out my own thoughts and for eventual distribution to the cast members of the Richard III production for which I’m stage managing, but it may have gotten a little too obsessive to be helpful at this point, lol.

Updated on 10/22 to add in the Woodvilles- while not royal, they are very important! I’m going to keep editing and working on this to make it more comprehensive and also to clear up some of the more obscured names on here.

I started with the wonderful family tree over at The History of England Podcast website (Thank you very much!) and modified it in a lot of ways, erasing some descendants that aren’t mentioned in the plays or super relevant, adding in others that are, etc. I also added in various notes to indicate “who killed whom” (or was ultimately responsible for the death) according to Shakespeare and “who had an affair with whom” (according to Shakespeare or historical fact or rumor). [NOTE: a lot of these deaths and affairs are not at all confirmed in history and I am in no way saying it actually happened that way, don’t at me.]

My conclusion is that everyone’s related (thus, the cousins’ war!), no one has ANY IMAGINATION WHATSOEVER when it comes to naming, and everyone killed everyone else’s relatives in some way.

Did I miss someone important? It’s totally possible! Half of these people have the same damn names!

Shakespeare has a whole bit in Richard III Act IV Scene 4 poking a little fun at that. I’ve put in notations to indicate which one is being talked about at which point because it is DAMN CONFUSING.

Queen Margaret. (speaking to Elizabeth Woodville)
Tell o'er your woes again by viewing mine:
I had an Edward (Edward, Prince of Wales [son of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou]), till a Richard kill'd him; (Richard, Duke of Gloucester/Richard III)
I had a Harry (Henry VI), till a Richard kill'd him: (Gloucester/R 3)
Thou hadst an Edward (Edward V [son of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville]), till a Richard kill'd him; (Gloucester/R 3)
Thou hadst a Richard (Richard, Duke of York [son of Edward IV’s and Elizabeth Woodville), till a Richard killed him; (Gloucester/R 3)

Duchess of York. I had a Richard too, and thou didst kill him; (Richard, Duke of York [father of Edward IV, Clarence, and Gloucester/R 3; also Duchess of York’s late husband])
I had a Rutland too, thou holp'st to kill him.

Anyway, If I DID miss someone or got something wrong in this family tree, please let me know; it would be most appreciated!

UPDATED NOVEMBER 11, 2019

I added a few more generations and cleaned up a lot of the more illegible names. : ) This goes far beyond anything mentioned in Shakespeare’s history plays, but I wanted to add in all the relevant potential heirs under Elizabeth I.

I also reformatted and cleaned it up a lot. I printed out a big copy of this and mounted it on foam-board for demonstration purposes at Richard III rehearsal. I got to teach all about the wars of the roses and history and it was so much fun. :D Please feel free to download it and use it for your own purposes! But if you do so, please comment and let me know what you’re doing with it, I’d love to know!

If you’d like to download the family tree, you can do that here.

The Alternate Costumes of Six the Musical

November 03, 2019 by Rachael Dickson in theater, English History

The original primary West End cast of Six (Idil Sukan)

Because of its small cast and rabid fanbase, Six has the ability to get away with things that I’m not sure would fly in any other musical. Specifically, each alternate has their own costumes that are separate from the main Queen costumes. In other musicals and plays, it’s standard practice for alternates and understudies to wear the same costume/style of costume as the main actors, with the idea that they should blend in as much as possible. But Six encourages their alternates to stand out and online, the alternates have almost as much of a rabid fanbase as the main actresses!

An Alternate is a performer who occasionally goes on in a role to give the main performer a break. Their performances are usually scheduled. From what I can see online, it seems like each production of Six generally has 2-3 alternates that sub in regularly, primarily for two specific queens. London also has an understudy, who will only go on stage if someone is unexpectedly out, like if an actress is ill. Seems like the formal alternates also jump in as understudies if need be.

It seems like the costume designer and creators have a lot of fun with the alternate costumes, using colors and styles that don’t show up in the main queens’ outfits. None of the costumes are exact copies of any of the queens’ outfits, but they do take a lot of inspiration from them.

I’ll point out a few of the different hairstyles here, but for the most part, I plan to just talk about the different elements of the alternate costumes - which queens they came from, etc.

A TON of people on Tumblr have done more in-depth coverage and include more pictures:

Grace Mouat’s Costume- https://divorcedbeheaded.tumblr.com/post/184743930784/so-as-you-know-the-understudies-cover-all-six

A review of the black and blue alternate costumes: https://lightleckrereins.tumblr.com/tagged/six-alternates

A great overview of all the costumes: https://six-costume-refs.tumblr.com/

Various Instagram Sources: sladegabriella, camden costumes, dxntloseurhead

Let’s start with a look at the black alternate costumes. The alternates change up their hair and makeup to match each queen’s style, and it does seem that certain styles of alternate costumes are worn only with certain queens.

Mallory Maedke is currently the alternate for Boleyn, Seymour, and Howard for Six the Musical: US. As you can see in the left and middle photos, she’s clearly wearing the same or very similar costumes, but her hair is done differently. On the left, she’s going on as Jane Seymour, with the long flowing hair pulled back away from the face, without any studded accessories. I don’t know for certain who she’s playing in the picture on the right, but based on the hair and the wristbands, I’m guessing Anne Boleyn.

These alternate costumes are so interesting, because they have enough elements in common with the usual queen costumes to blend in with the style of the show, but they tend to have a few unusual touches all their own. The grommets and stripes are the most obvious common elements with the other costumes. This dress also has a skirt similar to that seen on Aragon’s, but with more panels, and it goes all the way around. The mesh is similar to that in Boleyn’s outfit and the long sleeves are similar to Seymour’s. The top of the sleeves however is a totally unique feature you don’t see in any of the main queens’ looks. They have a very strong profile and almost look like ribbon on a Christmas present.

ADDED 12/16: Liv Alexander of the Breakaway cruise cast, going on for Boleyn. LOOK at her skirt! No one else has a skirt like that! It’s got more pleats and a fuller silhouette than all the other alternate skirts (it actually looks a lot like the shape of Boleyn’s skirt) and also actually goes completely around, as opposed to the ones that open in the front. The bodice looks identical to Maedke’s above.

natalie pilkington catherine of aragon.JPG

Left: Natalie Pilkington- (Bliss cruise alternate) as Catherine Parr.She also has similar sleeves as can be seen in the first Maedke dress. The pants look similar to Parr’s, but if there /is/ lacing on the sides, it doesn’t look near as wide apart as the lacing in Parr’s outfit usually is (although there have been slight variations from actress to actress).

Middle: Mouat and Colette Guitart (understudy, West End) - You can see the details of Mouat’s costume a lot better here - it’s very similar to Maedke’s dress, but appears to have little epaulettes, which seems evocative of castle crenelations or modern military dress. Guitart’s dress has a similar neckline and sleeves, but the top has fewer vertical stripes and more criss-crossing straps. The see through panels in the skirt are very similar to Howard’s skirt.

ADDED 01/15/2020: Natalie Pilkington again - this time as Aragon - Her skirt is a little too shiny for me to see all the details, but it looks kind of like a cross between Mouat’s and Guitart’s in the middle picture: with the cut open and shiny alternating black and white fabric stripes. The emphasized shoulders look very similar to Natalie’s Cleves outfit, but the long sleeves are different and have the really wide lacing on them, which I don’t think any other alternate’s costume has.

ADDED 11/30: Cassie Lee of the UK tour, going on for Anne of Cleves. I haven’t seen this costume before; this one looks very similar to a Vicki Manser’s turquoise Cleves outfit above, but the sleeves are connected and the shorts aren’t cut as high. The jacket’s neck is also higher and the shorts don’t have the diagonal stripes seen on Manser’s.

The next photo also shows Lee, only this time she’s going on for ARAGON [corrected 05/04/2020] (I’ve brightened it up a lot to show the details of the outfit more). This costume is really similar to Grace Mouat’s black one seen above, but there are some slight differences in the beading design of the top, plus, it’s a crop top rather than a dress. It doesn’t appear to have the epaulettes of Mouat’s dress and the material is different, less shiny and smooth and more sparkly.

ADDED 01/15/2020: Natalie Pilkington going on as Cleves - the costume looks similar to Cassie’s Cleves outfit, but with chains and separate long wrist bands instead of long sleeves.

Next - the teal/blue costumes!

Left - Vicki Manser (West End) - Anne of Cleves variation - Here’s where you can see they really started having fun with the costumes. Vicki’s shorts are kind of similar to Cleves, but higher waisted and cut differently - they’re much more classically sci-fi in their looks, particularly with that color! The jacket and top underneath are pretty much straight Cleves, complete with the fur, although the arm warmers are different than Cleves’. The criss cross straps at the type emulate those seen on Cleves and Howard.

Middle: Vicki Manser - All queens except Cleves - The shorts seem identical to the left outfit, although I can’t quite tell if the belt detail is the same; there may be epaulettes at the top? It’s hard to tell. That top though is just delightfully bizarre and totally unlike anything else. It has the shape of Boleyn’s top, with the see-through cut out of Catherine Parr’s top. The horizontal stripes aren’t visible in any of the main queen’s costumes, which all use either diagonal or vertical (or checked in Boleyn’s case).

Right: Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert (US) - Aragon/Parr variation – The pants are pure Parr, although the fabric strips connecting the top and the pants are very different and seem to emulate Cleves’ or Howards’ criss-cross straps on their neckline. The top is very similar to the middle Manser look (with the Boleyn style cut and sleeve tops and the Parr style see through cut out), only with the long sleeves of Seymour. It seems to have similar possible epaulettes/belt thing as the Manser look, but with more of them.

Left: Bryony Duncan (Bliss Cruise) - Boleyn- This looks almost exactly like Boleyn’s dress in silhouette, sleeves, wristbands, mesh, and skirt fullness, only the checks are diagonal instead of straight up and sideways. In addition, she has the cut out in the middle like Parr.

ADDED 01/15/2020: Middle: Bryony Duncan - Seymour - The top is similar to the one on the left, but the stripes are tilted differently, plus she has long black sleeves here. The skirt is super cool and unlike any other alternate skirt I’ve seen so far. It looks most like Jane Seymour’s skirt, but shorter and with a belt and contrasting stripes rather than stripes that blend in.

ADDED 01/15/2020: Right: Still Bryony (although doesn’t she look so different from picture to picture?) - Howard - The top is similar to the other two, but just a bit different - it looks like the collar is higher and the sleeves a bit more prominent, plus the long sleeves are blue instead of just black. The skirt is awesome and looks similar to Katherine Howard’s skirt, only with more checked fabric and contrasting stripes. In fact, the Australian Katherine Howard outfit looks JUST very similar to this one, although the Aussie skirt has checked fabric stripes running vertically as well as horizontally and is overall a bit shorter.

Left: Cherelle Jay (West End) - Dressed as Boleyn. The top seems very similar to the Duncan outfit in the middle, with all its similarities to Boleyn’s dress but the shorts has the Cleves belt and the epaulettes seen in Manser’s “all queens but Cleves” outfit.

ADDED 11/30: Right: Jennifer Caldwell of the UK tour, who primarily covers Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard. Her top looks a lot like Bryony Duncan’s costume above, but the middle part isn’t as sheer and it looks like the neckline may be a little different. The skirt has vertical checks instead of diagonal, plus she’s got the split in the middle which isn’t present in Duncan’s.

On to the Orange costumes!

Left: Hana Stewart (West End), who alternated primarily as Jane Seymour and Catherine Parr [corrected 05/04/2020]. This top seems to be very similar to the Maedke costume at the very top of the page, only with more busy ribbons on the sleeves - the tops of these sleeves appear to have four individual sections, while the Maedke sleeve tops appear to be one accentuated cap sleeve. The middle black stripe is similar to Catherine Parr’s, but without the sheer fabric. The criss cross laces on the top and the pants appear to be reminiscent of corset laces historically.

Middle: Courtney Stapleton (West End), who alternated primarily as Jane Seymour and Catherine Parr, but also understudied all the other roles. From the hair accessories, it looks like she’s probably going on as Catherine of Aragon or Cleves. This costume looks the same as Stewart’s, except it’s missing the straps in between the top and pants.

ADDED 11/30: Right: Harriet Watson of the UK tour. Her costume is similar to Hana Stewart’s and Courtney Stapleton’s orange outfits above, but looks to have slightly different sleeve material. Plus the top isn’t a crop top. Oh, and the pants are definitely different from Stewart’s; Stewart’s pants have two thinner orange stripes and criss cross lacing , but Watson’s look to just have one big orange stripe.

These pics are from the instagram accounts of costume designer Gabriella Slade and Camden Costumes, one of the people who sew and assemble the costumes. I don’t think these costumes have been used in the show yet, as I can’t find any photos of them anywhere, but they do look really interesting and exciting for the future! The costume in the second from the right looks very similar to the shape of Catherine of Aragon’s dress, but has the checks of Boleyn. The one on the far right reminds me most of the current orange costume, with its peplum, but it has the mesh of boleyn’s costume. The belt detail seems borrowed from Cleves’ shorts.

Finally, the pink costumes!

Shekinah McFarlane (West End), who alternated primarily for Aragon and Cleves. It appears that when she stood in for Cleves though, she wore the regular costume instead of a special alternate costume. She now is Cleves on the UK Tour. This lovely opalescent pink dress has the general shape of Aragon’s dress, with the split skirt and long sleeves. The sleeve top is similar to the blue Duncan costume above, with a Jetsons sort of feel to it. The neck decoration is really interesting - I love how it continues the vertical stripe in the bodice up around the neck. Haven’t seen anything like that in the other costumes. This outfit also has a split peplum on the skirt, which feel similar to the epaulettes seen in other alternate outfits, but is different enough that it stands apart.

Zara McIntosh (West End), who alternates for Howard and Aragon. In these photos, she’s made up for Howard. It’s clearly the same or similar style dress as the one McFarlane is wearing.

I haven’t seen any other opal pink costumes but the fabric is absolutely gorgeous, so I certainly hope that changes soon!

The cast of Six at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. From left, Jane Seymour (Abby Mueller), Katherine Howard (Samantha Pauly), Catherine of Aragon (Adrianna Hicks), Anne Boleyn (Andrea Macasaet), Anne of Cleves (Brittney Mack), and Catherine Parr (A… — The cast of Six at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. From left, Jane Seymour (Abby Mueller), Katherine Howard (Samantha Pauly), Catherine of Aragon (Adrianna Hicks), Anne Boleyn (Andrea Macasaet), Anne of Cleves (Brittney Mack), and Catherine Parr (Anna Uzele). Credit: Liz Lauren

Six the Musical Queens 4-6: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations

October 27, 2019 by Rachael Dickson in English History, theater, fashion, music

So I’ve gotten pretty obsessed with the musical Six lately, which is based on the lives of the six wives of Henry VIII. It’s set up as a girl group pop concert, in which the six women each sing the stories of their lives.

I’ve been dying for more information about the costumes in the show and haven’t been able to find a ton of information. The costume designer, Gabriella Slade, was nominated for an Olivier award for her work. In one article, she said:

“It was an amazing brief. There needed to be an echo of Tudor fashion, but obviously the contemporary influence of the pop industry. It’s an amazing thing to be able to infuse period costume with contemporary style. Lucy [Moss, writer] had ideas about which pop stars related to which queens. Catherine of Aragon is Beyoncé, Jane Seymour is Adele, Catherine Parr is Alicia Keys, Catherine Howard is Ariana Grande, Anne Boleyn is Lily Allen and Anne of Cleves is Nicki Minaj meets Rihanna.”

Other than that though, I haven’t been able to find a lot about her process or inspiration in designing these costumes. So I decided to look into the costumes myself. I’ll be directly comparing them to their historical counterparts and their modern pop artist inspirations.

These are all just educated guesses (based on lots and lots of reading and photo/portrait examining), but I am by no means a fashion or a pop music expert! If you have any contributions or comments, please send them my way - via the comments here, Twitter (@RachaelDickzen), Facebook (@RachaelDickzenAuthor), or email at Rachael.Dickzen@gmail.com. I’d love to hear what you have to say!

This is the second of several posts on the costumes in Six. The first post on the costumes of Wives 1-3 can be found here. The third will take a look at the alternates’ costumes! I also want to do a post looking at how the costumes evolved over time.

Historical Note: Spelling wasn’t standardized in Tudor times, so you’ll see these Queens’ names spelled a number of different ways.

Anne of Cleves, by Hans Holbein the Yougner, c. 1539. Oil and tempera on parchment mounted on canvas.

Anne of Cleeves, ~1540s by Barthel Bruyn the Elder

Ich bin Anne of Cleves (Ja)
When he saw my portrait he was like- (Jaa)
But I didn’t look as good as I did in my pic
Funny how we all discuss that
But never Henry’s little-

Anne of Cleves (Queen from January -July 1540) has been one of the queens most maligned by Tudor Propaganda. Even today, if I refer to her, my husband asks “the one who looked like a horse” (he knows better, he just says it to mess with me because it’s such a common misconception). Here’s the thing: Henry saw a painting of Anne by Hans Holbein beforehand and liked what he saw. Holbein had been specifically instructed NOT to flatter the women in the portraits. If the portrait of Anne was indeed so inaccurate, would Henry VIII have then kept Holbein in his employment afterward? No. Thomas Cromwell lost his head over the whole Anne of Cleves incident; Henry certainly wouldn’t have kept around a junior-level painter (yes, he was junior, Holbein was never the highest paid painter in Henry’s employ. But he’s the one we all know several centuries later, so /shrug/) if he actually believed Holbein messed up so badly. In addition, everyone at the time said it was a good likeness of her.

So who was Anne? Anna von Kleve, as she was known in German, was the second daughter of a Duke in Cleves. Her father was heavily influenced by humanism and wanted to follow a moderate path toward reformation, but the family itself was unaligned religiously; her brother was a Lutheran and her mother was described as a strict Catholic. Anne was betrothed to the Duke of Lorraine at the age of 11. Though this betrothal was never fulfilled, it was later used as an excuse to annul her marriage with Henry. Henry’s chief minister Thomas Cromwell pushed Anne forward as a candidate because of her connections to Protestantism (her brother-in-law John Frederick, Elector of Saxony, was called “The Champion of the Reformation”).

Though Henry VIII later stated that Jane Seymour was his favorite wife and claimed to have mourned her fiercely, in reality, he started looking for a new wife pretty soon after her death. He sent Hans Holbein the Younger around Europe to paint pictures of numerous eligible women, including Anna and her younger sister Amalia. Holbein also painted Christina of Denmark, who famously said “If I had two heads, I would happily put one at the disposal of the King of England.”

There likely was one specific incident at the heart of Henry’s dislike of Anne. Henry was actually quite a romantic and fancied himself a chivalric knight, so in the tradition of courtly love games, he disguised himself, rode out to meet Anne early without any warning, and surprised Anne with a kiss and a gift. She had no idea who he was, didn’t know anything about this courtly love tradition, and was rather shocked and freaked out by the unknown man who tried to embrace her. She was polite, but didn’t pay much attention to him until he took off his disguise and came back in all his kingly splendor. The situation likely wounded Henry’s pride, and immediately after he tried to get the wedding called off, stating that he “liked not her looks.” It couldn’t be done without endangering their vital alliance with Anne’s family, so the wedding went forward, but the marriage only lasted about half a year (the “Flanders Mare” phrase used to describe Anne, by the way, didn’t show up in any contemporary evidence and wasn’t used in any descriptions of her until 1679).

Henry claimed the marriage was never consummated and Anne never said anything to the contrary. Henry asked for an annulment, Anne (who probably was thinking of what happened to Catherine of Aragon) consented, and in return, was given a generous settlement of numerous estates. She also was referred to as “the King’s Beloved Sister,” and was given precedence over all women in England save his own wife and daughters. Anne stayed in England for the rest of her life, outliving both Henry and his son Edward IV and living well into the reign of Mary I.

Historical inspiration: The portrait’s influence can be seen in the red color scheme and stripes present in Anne’s costume. The shape of the costume seems to pay homage to the Holbein painting as well; the crop top mirrors the belt at Anne’s waist and the puffed sleeves, gloves, and the arms peeking through emulate the length and volume of the dress’s sleeves. Even the high collar on the jacket and the criss-crossing straps on the chest seem to refer to Anne’s necklaces.

If you look carefully, this costume also features black fur, which may be a reference to Anne’s German background. Alternatively, it may just symbolize how cold it really was at the time; the English renaissance took place during a “little ice age,” after all. It was not uncommon for dresses to be lined with fur for warmth then. We know that canals and rivers (including the great Thames in London) froze frequently enough that “frost fairs” would be held on the solid ice.

Rihanna in the What’s My Name music video

Modern Inspiration: The Rihanna influence is pretty apparent. Rihanna has often worn crop top and short sets, stripes, and spikes. The West End actress’s pixie cut is similar to Rihanna’s ever-changing hair, which has been cut very short several times; you can see in the photo at the top of this post that the actress in the Chicago production has her hair done in a bun which keeps it similarly close to the head.

I’ve also read interviews that say Cleves is also loosely inspired by Nicki Minaj; I’ve included some Nicki pictures that show her in shorts and spikes, just like Cleves.

The song itself actually reminds me much more of Fancy by Iggy Azalea than any of Rihanna’s songs, but the background music, style, and vocal range of “Get Down” definitely share a lot of elements with Rihanna’s R&B style. The lyrics are absolutely packed with pop culture references. The chorus is based on the classic children’s rhyme of “King of the Castle” (which goes back to at least 1850), which adds a fun touch of playfulness to the musical. It’s also a classic hip hop song in its use of the braggadocio style to focus on how awesome Anne of Cleves and her life is. I feel like we don’t hear as many bragging songs about women as we do about men so contextually, it’s very empowering. She also drops her own name (the German “Anna of Cleves”) over the very end of the song, which is another hip-hop trope popular in braggadocio that has been more recently picked up by pop artists (see: 2 Chainz, Nicki Minaj, Usher, Britney Spears, Jason Derulo). This song also cleverly references Beyonce’s Formation (“Come on Ladies, let’s get in Reformation”) and Kanye West’s Gold Digger (“I ain’t sayin’ I’m a gold digger, but check my prenup and go figure”).

I actually didn’t really like this song in Six for a long time, as it didn’t seem to fit with the “telling the story of each wife” structure of the musical. While writing this post though, I read an internet comment that described “Get Down” as a celebration of Cleves’ annulment and freedom from Henry. THAT is a really interesting idea and I like it quite a lot, although I think it could have been made clearer in the song. The non-linear structure of the song means you hear a LOT about how happy her life is and how awesome she is before you hear about all the estates and money she got from Henry as part of the annulment, which explains /why/. Nevertheless, the song is really feminist, as Cleves takes back the narrative, so she’s no longer the “ugly wife” in the story, but the lucky woman who survived Henry and went on to live a happy, full, and rich life.

Accessories Note: Only two queens in the musical have crown-like spikes in their hair, Catherine of Aragon and Anne of Cleves. This may be because their historical counterparts were royal /before/ marrying Henry VIII.

Nicki Minaj at the 2017 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards in custom Alexander Wang (Getty Images)

Nicki Minaj at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards in Frankie Morello

Portrait of a Lady, perhaps Katherine Howard, circa 1540, watercolour on vellum, by Hans Holbein the Younger

Portrait of a lady, probably a member of the Cromwell Family (formerly identified as Catherine Howard), ~1535-1540, oil on panel, By Hans Holbein

Prick up your ears,
I’m the Katherine who lost her head
For my promiscuity outside of wed-
Lock up your husbands
Lock up your sons
K Howard is here
And the fun’s begun

Catherine Howard (Queen from July 1540-November 1541) was a member of the illustrious aristocratic Howard family and Anne Boleyn’s first cousin. Her immediate family however, was not wealthy and her father often had to beg for handouts from his rich relatives. Her mother had five children with her first husband and then had another six with Catherine’s father; as one of the youngest children, Catherine was likely not her parents’ top priority.

After her mother’s death when Catherine was about 5 years old, she was sent to live with her father’s stepmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, along with several of her siblings. Although it was common for noble families to send their children to be trained in other noble households, the Dowager Duchess’s household was somewhat notoriously lax and undisciplined. It is reported that the children there ran a little wild; several of the older girls there entertained male visitors in the girls’ dormitory at night, receiving gifts in return.

Catherine could read and write but was not as well educated as many of Henry’s other wives. She was apparently quite vivacious and giggly. At age 13, her 36-year-old music teacher Henry Mannox molested her repeatedly. Once she was moved to a different house at 15, she allegedly took Francis Dereham (who was at least 28), one of the Duchess’s secretaries, as her lover. They referred to each other as husband and wife and Catherine kept track of Dereham’s money for him while he was away on business. This relationship was apparently common knowledge among many of the Duchess’s maids of honor and attendants. However, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk put a stop to it when she discovered it.

Later, her uncle, the influential Duke of Norfolk Thomas Howard, obtained a place for her in Anne of Cleves’ household, where she served as a lady-in-waiting. Henry met her there and became a bit infatuated, claiming he had never known her “like to any woman” and giving her great gifts of land and expensive cloth. He called her his “very jewel of womanhood,” but the story that he called her “his rose without a thorn” is likely a myth. She married Henry less than a month after his marriage to Anne was annulled. We don’t know her exact age, but she was around 16-17 and Henry was 49, which was pretty elderly for the time. At this time in his life, Henry was obese and had developed very painful ulcers on his legs; he had a bad temper and often took it out on his councilors.

Unlike the baseless claims for Anne Boleyn’s “affairs,” Catherine Howard’s sexual activities both before and during her marriage are pretty well documented. She became involved with one of Henry’s favorite courtiers Thomas Culpeper, who called her “my little sweet fool” in his love letters. Catherine’s lady-in-waiting Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford (George Boleyn’s widow), apparently assisted with their secret meetings throughout a royal progress. At the same time, people who knew of the situations with Dereham and Mannox began to blackmail her for her silence; she may have appointed some of these to her royal household. Update: I have read into this even more in recent years since writing this post and the evidence for Catherine Howard’s adultery is actually much thinner than I previously realized. It was pretty common for people to write extremely flowery letters expressing over the top love to their friends at the time. Sure, it’s still more evidence than actually existed against Anne Boleyn, but that’s really not saying much.

It was really through behind the scenes rumors and gossiping that Catherine met her downfall. Allegedly, a fairly random man named John Lascelles tried to get his sister Mary to work for the Queen, but she refused, saying she knew of Catherine’s sexual activities when they both lived together in the Duchess’s household. Lascelles reported this to the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer, who spoke to Mary Lascelles and Lady Rochford while pursuing a case against Catherine. His investigation turned up a love letter from the Queen in Culpeper’s chambers. Henry was probably unaware of the entire situation until he received a warrant of her arrest.

Catherine refused to admit that there was a precontract between her and Francis Dereham, even though that precontract would have terminated her marriage to Henry and possibly saved her life. She was imprisoned in Syon Abbey (which her ghost supposedly haunts to this day). Culpeper and Dereham were both executed; the noble Culpeper by beheading and the commoner Dereham by being hanged, drawn, and quartered. Catherine was later beheaded.

Historical Inspiration: To start off, there’s no evidence that Catherine Howard actually ever sat for a portrait and although many portraits have been identified as her traditionally, there are no authenticated versions. On the Tudor Trail wrote a really interesting blog post about it here. However, the two I’ve shared here are some of the most commonly attributed to be her, so if any inspiration came from a historical portrait of her, it was likely one of these.

However, I’ve had trouble finding really any historical elements or inspiration in this costume. Nothing seems to indicate any clothing or accessories from that period at all, except perhaps the somewhat square shaped neckline and the grommeting, which mirrors the beading in the portraits.

UPDATED 01/15/2020: Holy cow, how did I miss this until now? The open front skirt and the contrasting skirts around it are in retrospect, a pretty obvious style reference to the classic Tudor dress look where a kirtle (underskirt) was layered under a contrasting overdress. This isn’t too obvious in a lot of the six wives’ portraits, but you can totally see it in this portrait of Princess Elizabeth (future Elizabeth I).

Ariana Grande on her 2015 Honeymoon Tour. Photo: Getty

Britney Spears at the 2003 American Music Awards Ron Wolfson/WireImage — Britney Spears at the 2003 American Music Awards.
Photo: Ron Wolfson/WireImage

Ariana Grande at the 2014 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Photo: Getty

Modern Inspiration: The overall feel of Catherine’s look and song seems to be sexy but really young and naive, which is reflected in the youthful color scheme, hairstyle, and accessories (chokers are very “in” right now). The contrast between the long sleeves and the crop top could be read to signify that she doesn’t necessarily want to be the “sexy” one, but as it’s the only way she’s ever gotten attention or power, it’s what she knows.

The bottom of the outfit is clearly based off of one of Ariana Grande’s signature looks. I could honestly have included about 5 more photos of Grande wearing a similar high-waisted hot pants + skirt flaps, as they are EVERYWHERE. Britney Spears has also been cited as an influence on this character as well; the top is definitely similar to Spears’ 2003 AMA outfit, particularly in the long sleeves, color scheme, and complicated neck decorations.

The hair is also quite clearly based off of Ariana Grande’s signature look. Grande had to bleach and dye her hair intensely for three years while playing a character on a TV show and apparently it really messed up her hair, so for a while, a ponytail was the only look that really worked for her. She continues to wear it that way pretty often. The high pony and pink tips emphasizes how young and naive Catherine was and how much that affected her decisions and life. Britney Spears also wore her hair in ponytails/pigtails a lot when she was very new in her career, so it also ties into the “pop princess” feel of Catherine.

“All You Wanna Do” is a classic pop princess song that sounds a lot like Britney Spears. In particular, it has a really similar melody “If You Seek Me,” and shares a similar theme of “everyone sees me as a sex symbol” (although the song from Six is much darker). It’s the one I’ve seen reviewers cite most often as one of their favorites, I think because it’s such a perfect match of song style to character. Many pop stars started out as young, naive teenagers just like Catherine Howard and quickly found themselves in over their head as they were endlessly sexualized by society and by the people around them. The end of the song also defies the expectations set out by the braggadocio beginning - “I think we can all agree I’m the ten amongst these threes…And ever since I was a child I made the boys go wild” with the overwhelmed and desperate “I thought this time was different, Why did I think he’d be different, But it’s never, ever different.”

Accessories Note: It appears from photos that the only two queens in the show with choker necklaces/choker style necklines are Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard, who were both beheaded. True, their historical portraits also contained chokers, but if you look closely, you’ll realize that ALL of the queen’s historical portraits shows them wearing choker-like necklaces (I guess the look was just really popular then?), so the decision to have only Boleyn and Howard wear them seems pretty deliberate. The two women were also cousins and are the only queens to sport their initials on their necklaces. While Anne’s “B” is in her historical portrait, I think Katherine’s “H” symbolizes her familial connection to Anne Boleyn and their similar downfalls and deaths.

Katherine Parr, by an Unknown artist. Oil on Panel, late 16th century.

Catherine Parr (Maiya Quansah-Breed - West End)

Catherine Parr (Anna Uzele - Chicago) (Photo by Liz Lauren)

Catherine Parr, seventeenth-century copy of a sixteenth-century original

Five down, I’m the final wife
I saw him to the end of his life
I’m the survivor, Catherine Parr
I bet you wanna know how I got this far

Catherine Parr (Queen from 1543-1547) was Henry VIII’s last Queen and the last queen consort of the House of Tudor. She holds the record for the most-married English queen and had four husbands in her life.

Catherine was actually the daughter of one of Katherine of Aragon’s ladies-in-waiting, Maud Parr, and Katherine herself served as her godmother. She was highly educated and fluent in French, Latin, and Italian. She married Sir Edward Burgh when she was 17; he died four years later.

Her second husband, John Neville, Baron Latimer, was twice her age and a strong supporter of the Catholic church. He opposed Henry VIII’s first annulment and marriage to Anne Boleyn. However, when Catholic rebels rose against the king in 1536, they threatened violence unless Latimer joined them. Catherine and her step-children lived alone without Lord Latimer for many months, during which time they were taken hostage. The rebels ransacked their house and sent word to Lord Latimer that if he did not return immediately, they would kill his family. Fortunately, he successfully talked the rebels into releasing his family and letting them leave. Latimer later had to formally condemn the rebels and submit to the king’s clemency to ensure that he would not be found guilty of treason. This damaged Latimer’s reputation and forced the family to stay away from the royal court for many years; he was later blackmailed by Henry’s chief minister Thomas Cromwell and forced to do his bidding. However, after Cromwell’s death, the family was able to return to London. This is when Catherine became acquainted with her future fourth husband, Sir Thomas Seymour.

After the death of Lord Latimer, Catherine joined Lady/Princess Mary’s household, where she attracted the king’s attention. Although Catherine had become romantically involved with Seymour, when Henry proposed, she accepted. Henry then conveniently gave Seymour a job which moved him to Brussels. During their marriage, Catherine became close to all three of Henry’s children. She was also the second of Henry’s queens to rule as regent while he was away in France on campaign (the first was Katherine of Aragon).

However, Catherine held strong Protestant views that several Catholic officials viewed with suspicion. She sometimes debated religious issues with Henry, to the king’s annoyance. Though some of Henry’s officials tried to turn the king against Catherine and get her arrested, Catherine managed to see the arrest warrant beforehand and reconciled with the King by vowing that she had only argued with him about religion to take his mind off the pain from his ulcerous leg. The following day, an armed guard tried to arrest her while she was with the King, but Henry dismissed him angrily. In her life, she wrote and published three religious books: Psalms (anonymously) “Prayers or Meditations” (the first book published by an English queen under her own name), and “The Lamentation of a Sinner.”

Only six months after Henry’s death, Catherine secretly married Seymour (who had already proposed or made advances to Princess/Lady Mary and Princess/Lady Elizabeth because he was a gigantic cad). Seymour later was known to make several inappropriate physical advances toward the 13-year-old Princess Elizabeth while she was living with him and Catherine; Catherine eventually had to send her away. Again, he was a gigantic cad. After Catherine died, Thomas Seymour tried to kidnap the young king Edward and shot his dog in the process. He was beheaded for this, naturally.

ANYWAY - back to the story at hand. King Edward VI (Henry’s young son) and the ruling council were not informed of Catherine’s marriage to Seymour for several months. Once it became common knowledge, everyone was pretty annoyed at the quick and secretive marriage; they were publicly censured and reprimanded by the ruling council and both the king and Lady/Princess Mary were vocal in their disapproval of the union. Somewhat surprisingly, given that she had not conceived during her first three marriages, the 35-year-old Catherine became pregnant by Seymour. However, she died a few days after giving birth to a daughter, Mary Seymour. Mary doesn’t show up in records past a certain point, which makes historians believe she died before she was two.

Historical Inspiration: Parr’s costume in Six has a few elements in common with her historical portrait; the inspiration is particularly obvious in the puffy sleeves, stripes, high collar, and highly visible shirt cuffs. The spiked hairband seems to emulate the beaded hood in the portrait. In addition, both actress’s hair is voluminous in a way that is loosely reminiscent of the feather on the hat in the portrait.

Catherine Parr is the only queen to wear pants in the show. This may refer to Parr’s forward-thinking, powerful views and her unusual outspokenness, as she’s literally wearing “the pants.” Additionally, Parr’s feather-topped beret in her portrait was of a style also commonly worn by men; I don’t believe any of the other queens are painted wearing any similarly androgynous style. I imagine the pants could also be pointing to that. The laces in the pants are probably a tongue-in-cheek reference to the lacings on renaissance women’s dresses and corsets.

I’ve shared both the West End and the Chicago versions of the costume here because I couldn’t find a good performance photo from the West End. As you can see, though the costumes are similar, there are a few key differences, most obvious in the amount of skin shown.

Modern Inspiration: Alicia Keys commonly wears pants and tops with voluminous sleeves. She’s also been seeing wearing stripes on numerous occasions. The blue in Parr’s costume could also refer to Alicia Keys’ R&B style, which stands for “Rhythm & Blues.”

The song itself “I Don’t Need Your Love” is stylistically very classic R&B, with smooth, lush vocals laid over synthesizer chords. The verses overall are more conversational and longer than in many of the other queens’ songs. The use of “boy” in the lyrics also is reminiscent of many R&B songs, particularly Alicia Keys’ “Diary.”

It appears that the beginning verse actually is speaking to Thomas Seymour, who Catherine loved; however, when the king proposed, she pretty much had to accept him, so her marriage to Seymour was delayed for several years. Thus, the first chorus of “I don’t need your love, no, no” is her trying to talk herself into letting Seymour go, the second chorus is her imagining what she’d say to Henry VIII if she was able to actually refuse, and the final chorus is her joining with the other queens to state that they are people in their own right who don’t need Henry or his love, which brings the musical toward its end in a strongly feminist way.

So that’s it for now! I plan to write future blog posts on the alternates’ costumes and on how the costumes have evolved and changed over time. : ) Thanks!