“The Regina Monolgues” by Rebecca Russell and Jenny Wafer
Performed by Derby Shakespeare Theatre Company
The Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton

Here's another play that I've managed to allow to pass me by, until now!

Six women with one thing in common – marriage to a man called Henry - have passed into historical legend. Their lives are both separate and intertwined as they tell their stories from a room in which they have all once lived. This story would make a great musical!

The women describe their co-existence with the lusty monarch and also their fears and insecurities about his other consorts and their different child-bearing abilities. They graphically discuss Henry at the different stages of his life, creating a simultaneous multi-angled picture of Henry.

What makes this production very different to other productions, is that the play starts with a monologue from Henry. Henry the business man who tells us all about his six wives, how they met and what went wrong, from his point of view.

This part of the play takes place in Henry's office, where we can see that his desk is his castle, a pl;ace that he feels truly at home and open to discuss his love life quite candidly and in a very modern way.

The speech is the work of Caroline Reader, who also directed this section of the play, and is very funny; littered with several jokes that link Henry back to the days of Henry's reign. You need to see this to get the full impact, and I'm not going to give away any of them. There's even a nod to the movie "Notting Hill" right at the end.

As I said, the production is very modern and several of the monologues from the ladies reference some of Nottingham's night spots like Revolution de Cuba, as an example.

The intertwining of the six monologues is done very cleverly and at the end the wedding ring is passed down to all six of the wives to culminate the connection between the six.

Jessica Jackson (Cathy), Emily Emily Horobin (Annie), Steph Carpenter (Jane), Alex Wrampling (Anna), Brogan Piggott (Katie) and Christine Smith (Katherine) are joined by Mathew Shepherd (Henry) in this very funny play, which I'm very pleased to have ticked off the list of plays not previously seen.

Director Niamh Mourton has done a great job with this production, and as I've said, I've never seen this show before so this is the only experience of the show, but what a great experience Niamh has given me with this show. It's pacy, it's lit well (Steve Greatorex/Neil Jones) and the set design (Niamh Mourton and Charlotte Matthews) was again cleverly thought out, providing all six with their own space from where to relate their tales.

Loved the various costumes (Charlotte and William Matthews), reflecting the ages and personality of the women.

I also appreciated the music choices that went along with the play whenever there was a change on positioning of Henry's Queens. From Sinatra to Simone, the snatches of these tunes sublimely filled that period of scene change. Very classy!

It's a brilliant and short piece of theatre, only 100 minutes long with no interval. It makes history great fun, and while this play is not for the younger audience due to some of the language and adult themes that are discussed, I think it's a play that will appeal to anyone with a sense of humour. This audience was of a broad age range and they all seemed to appreciate the humour.

“The Regina Monologues” is at The Duchess Theatre until Saturday 14 March so pop down for a right royal laugh