Some things make sense when you find out where they began. Six started life as a show at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2017, and that seems exactly right now that I’ve seen it. It’s short, punchy, fun, and has a fairly solid single concept it carries through. So, what is it?

Six is a 75-minute musical where the six wives of Henry VIII take a quick, rocky trip through their respective biographies before finding a moment of girl power at the end, where they (semi-successfully) attempt to recast their stories outside the context of their late husband

It’s light and entertaining and, if you want a quick snapshot of it – imagine the Spice Girls doing a short show on the above theme, and you have it just about exactly. Although there is a ‘book’ for Six, there’s no real story or non-sung dialogue, and the staging/costumes are pretty standard stuff for a modern rock show, though they are well done.

How was the performance we saw at the Crown last night? Entertaining. And some of the audience *adored* it. I think I might have enjoyed how much one young audience member was loving the show more than I enjoyed the show itself. That said, all of the performers were at least solid and several were excellent. The Anne Boleyn for the night was ok, but Katherine Howard (played by a ‘swing’ performer Karis Oka and not the regular cast member) was fantastic and provided the highlight of the evening.

Will you enjoy it if you go? Was it worth the $A85 per ticket? I think it was and if you want a loud, fun, feminist Spice Girls show that doesn’t outstay its welcome, then this is for you.

I want to build up my own notes on space opera, which I have been thinking about. At the moment I don’t have a definition for it, but I do have some basic conditions for a work to be considered space opera. These are that:

• we are in space – the action must take place primarily off-world (i.e. in space, on a spaceship, on a space station);
• we are not alone – when our heroes step into space they find a galaxy that is teeming with life, that is populated by large and varied cultures  (these may be made of many species or could just be human);
• we are in grave peril – everything takes places on a grand scale and there is a large amount of drama involved (ie the universe is at stake or similar); and
• we need to do something – the protagonist in our story acts to change things, save the universe etc, and does so knowingly.

I am still convincing myself that these are the prerequisites for space opera, but I think they’re close. Space opera stories are space adventures that involve the highest stakes, both on a personal and on a broader level.

What do I consider to be a space opera?  Well,  E. E. “Doc” Smith and his Lensman, half of what A. E. van Vogt wrote, John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War books, Elizabeth Moon’s Vatta novels, C.J. Cherryh’s Chanur books, and some of Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan novels.

What do I think are not space operas? This is almost so broad as to be meaningless, but Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War, most of Heinlein,  Dune, and a lot more.