Freya Karlettis speaks to The Theatre Playbook about landing the role of Anna of Cleves in Six the Musical, why the Queen is the “most overlooked” of Henry VII’s six wives and her long road to starring in this West End show.
In the midst of a summertime heatwave, the Queens of historical musical Six were forced to implement their own interval to be able to enjoy a water break during the straight run 90-minute performance.
Yet one of the show’s stars, Freya Karlettis, wouldn’t want to be anywhere else than on stage at London’s Vaudeville Theatre in the heart of the West End, five months on after making her debut in the show as Anna of Cleves.
She was among the six new Queens to ascend to the throne in February this year, joining Adrianne Langley (Catherine of Aragon), Marisha Morgan (Anne Boleyn), Jessica Aubrey (Jane Seymour), Leesa Tulley (Katherine Howard) and Nia Stephen (Catherine Parr).
Written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, with direction by Moss and Jamie Armitage, Six the Musical presents the wives of Henry VIII in a new light as they turn back the clock and take to the stage to reclaim their crowns and retell their stories of love, loss and the infamous ex they all have in common.
“It’s been good. I didn’t really know what to expect since it’s my first adult West End job,” Karlettis tells The Theatre Playbook. “Obviously, everyone sort of knows the show, and I’ve seen it a few times, but still, it’s a mammoth show for sure. There’s no hiding on that stage. It’s just the six of you, so there’s no hiding whatsoever. It’s fun though. Really, really good fun.”
The nature of the production means that while it’s certainly a collaboration between the six Queens, each one gets their moment in the spotlight as they each sing songs relating to their marriage to Henry VIII – and their fate. In particular, Anna of Cleves is introduced during the group number Haus of Holbein, before she sings Get Down, which recalls how Henry’s fourth wife was choen for marriage based on her looks before the monarch quickly rejects her and annuls the marriage, leaving Anna to faux complain about living in a palace in Richmond with a fortune and no husband to answer to.
“It’s quite nice. We all have our little moment to shine, and we’re all backing vocals for everyone else,” Kaylettis says. “As a whole, I would say Cleves in history, out of all of the queens, she’s the most overlooked. I have researched her and there’s barely anything on her because she was literally in and out. She got married, was married for six months, and then was out. So there’s literally barely anything on her, and I quite liked that.
“She was really just up for my own interpretation, and is quite low key. But in the show, that’s the whole point. She starts off as this really low key character rejected for her looks, and then suddenly she just pops up with this big number. She’s just like, ‘Look at this fabulous life that I have.’ She’s funny.”
Perhaps Karlettis was always meant to play Anna of Cleves, having auditioned four times for Six the Musical before finally landing a role in the lead cast. Often, those auditions would see her bid for the role of either Anna or first wife Catherine of Aragon
“The first time I auditioned for Alternate Aragon, Cleves and [sixth wife Catherine] Parr, and then the second time it was Aragon and Parr, and then third time just Cleves, and then fourth time it was Aragon and Cleves again. So mostly Cleves. She has been quite a running theme with me. and I am Cleves now.”
Even when she landed a part in the West End production, her agent didn’t tell her at first which character she would be playing. Then when the secret was revealed, “I was quite shocked because I genuinely thought I was in for just Alternate Aragon. But here we are.”
That she kept coming back to audition for Six is a sign of the love Karlettis has for the show, which first debuted at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2017 and premiered in the West End in 2019 after a UK tour.
Six also continues its reign on Broadway at the Lena Horne Theatre and is now booking into its fifth year. The musical has toured the US, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, the Philippines, South Korea, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, and enjoyed a seven-week season at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas.
This year, the show returns to Australia with a national tour; China for a 12-week engagement from October, alongside further international dates in Germany, and performances at the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg in May 2027.
“Well, I first saw the show for an 18th birthday, and I didn’t really know what to expect,” Karlettis says. “I’d heard about it, and I’d heard some of the music, and I thought it was pretty cool. But then actually watching the spectacular of it, and also the real meaning behind the story, which is women not competing against each other and actually empowering each other, I thought, ‘This is such a clever show.’ The fact that it’s like Horrible Histories as well, I was like, ‘This is like genius. I really can see myself doing something like this.’
“At the time, I was like, ‘I don’t know who.’ Roughly, I did think probably Aragon or Cleves because they’re both quite similar to me, personality-wise. And then I was just getting to know the show better. I’ve known for a little while that I’m definitely Cleves.”
Now on stage as Anna of Cleves, Karlettis has been able to bring a lot of herself to the role. “I’ve seen a few people do it. I’ve seen Lexi [Alexia McIntosh], who was original Cleves [in the West End], do it. I’ve seen my friend Shekinha [McFarlane] do it. Me and her did The Lion King together as well as kids. And then the previous Cleves just before me, Dionne Ward-Anderson – and all of them are all so different. They all have really good vibes. Forr me, mine is just so goofy, and I think that’s probably where I was going wrong in my auditions originally. I was playing Cleves just ultra, ultra cool, almost an untouchable kind of cool, but really she’s not. She’s just this really goofy girl that happens to be really rich now and lives in this palace. That’s what I like about her. I feel like I play her quite unexpected. She’s got this cool costume on, but secretly she’s a real nerd.”
Kaylettis made her West End debut in The Lion King, playing Young Nala, before roles in Hairspray, Play On! and Sleeping Beauty. Doing The Lion King as a child, “you really have no idea what it really entails being in the West End,” she says. “Especially The Lion King, it’s a Disney film as well. I was like, ‘I’m just playing every night.’ But now I say that, I feel the same about Cleves. I’m just get paid to play and just have fun and be silly and be myself, but also play portray a character as well.”
Recently, she swapped the stage at the Vaudeville Theatre for one in Trafalgar Square to perform at West End Live with her fellow Queens.
“Oh, that was so scary. I was frightened,” she recalls. “I had just come back from holiday, so I’d been away for a few days, and then the day after I got back, it was West End Live. So I only had one rehearsal. I’ve never been to West End Live, so I had no idea what to expect whatsoever. For the very first time that I stepped off the stage, it was very daunting. Very, very daunting. But I was like, ‘This is the craziest adrenaline rush I’ve ever had in my life.’
Karlettis is with Six the Musical for at least a year. “That’s all I know for now. We haven’t really discussed what happens after that yet,” she adds. But having succeeded in landing a role with the show after so many auditions, she’s open to what comes next.
“This was the main one. This was definitely the one that I was like, ‘I have got to get this.’ I haven’t auditioned for anything else a lot. I’m quite open to be fair. I would definitely like to do something very different.”
Six the Musical is now playing the Vaudeville Theatre, with booking until Sunday, November 28, 2027. Tickets here.
Top image: Freya Karlettis as Anna of Cleves and the Company of Six the Musical, credit Pamela Raith (image supplied)