A History of Six Chaos: UK Tour 6.0 (2024-25
While this production began like many others with an alternate or swing performer staying with the production for a bit to provide additional coverage, in this case former alt Ellie Jane Grant, they still needed an emergency cover almost immediately with former swing Shakira Simpson performing as e/c Cleves in the cast’s second performance on August 21st. Ellie left the production in mid-September after only performing once, although her one performance was as Seymour– the final role she needed to hit Swingo. Shakira was hired officially as an additional swing soon after, staying with the show until the end of November. She couldn’t prevent the travel issues that caused them to cancel the scheduled first performance in Singapore, though.
Shakira’s absence proved to be disastrous for the production, as a combination of injuries, illnesses, and vacations after their Singapore stop resulted in a slew of chaos. West End swing Esme Rothero performed as emergency cover Howard on December 12th and Boleyn on the 14th, and Harriet Caplan-Dean returned once again (despite currently being a part of the & Juliet UK tour, which was on a holiday break) to emergency cover Boleyn on the 15th and Parr for 3 shows on the 18th and 19th. As Harriet’s silver skirt had been repurposed as part of West End alt Gabriella Stylianou’s alternate costume, she wore the pants variation for all shows, marking the first time that variation had been worn to play Boleyn. These performances also led to her finally beating out Harriet Watson as the queen who has done the most emergency cover performances. Unfortunately, the tour had to cancel 3 shows total on the 20th and 21st, and Harriet Caplan-Dean was brought back once more for two Parr shows on the 23rd.
The tour’s next stop was in Japan (January 8th through 26th), and Esme Rothero was brought in as a temporary swing to provide additional coverage. She only performed once in Japan, but was needed again two months later as an emergency cover for Seymour in two shows on March 26th and Boleyn in one on the 27th. While it was not formally announced, she also rejoined the cast for their last two international stops in Spain (where she did not perform) and China.
Harriet Caplan-Dean, having just completed her run in & Juliet, returned yet again as a temporary swing during their first stop back in the UK (from July 29th through August 3rd), although she didn’t need to perform. They did need one final emergency cover Parr at the next stop on August 9th, this time from UK tour 7.0 swing Emilia Paige Jurin, but otherwise finished out their run strong.
Stats:
# total shows: 354
# emergency cover performances: 11
# emergency performers needed: 4 (Shakira Simpson, Esme Rothero, Harriet Caplan-Dean, Emilia Paige Jurin)
# shows canceled: 4
# alts/swings: 3 alts, 1 swing
# temporary/short term performers: 3 (Ellie Jane Grant, Shakira Simpson, and Esme Rothero as temp swings)
# cast member changes: 0
Overall chaos score: 5/10
