Til Death: The Six Wives of Henry VIII

Rating:

(Reviewed at the 2013 Winnipeg Fringe Festival)

Company:Monster Theatre, Vancouver

Genre:Play Comedy

Venue: 17PTE Colin Jackson Studio

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If hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, then you'd expect six women in heaven's anteroom, waiting for the arrival of their mutual husband, to have a few things to say.

And so they do in Ryan Gladstone's comedy, given a tour de force solo performance by Tara Travis.

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She plays all six of Henry VIII's wives, waiting in limbo for the arrival of the king and the chance to join him in "royalty heaven" (like regular heaven, but fancier).

The trouble is, only one can join him - and so the competition to see who is most deserving begins.

Travis plays them all with razor-sharp characterizations from an understandably bitter AnneBoleyn, who arrives sans body, to the imperious Catherine ofAragon, to a flighty and flirty Catherine Howard.

Travis plays them all with razor-sharp characterizations from an understandably bitter Anne Boleyn to a flighty and flirty Catherine Howard.- Joff Schmidt

As they vie over who was most loved and most wronged by the corpulent serial-marrying king, Travis flies from character to character with lightning-quick precision.

It does, by the end of 75 minutes, get a bit tiring just keeping up with her. And the show takes a while to start up, as each character needs to be introduced and defined.

But once it gets going, Gladstone and Travis deliver plenty of laughs, a fresh take on history, and a "you go girl" ending that feels like it finally gives a proper voice to Henry's wives.

Travis' outstanding performance makes it worth hearing what they have to say.