“Gripping” play unearths new side to Queen Victoria

Published: 6 April 2013
Reporter: Steve Orme

Beatie Edney as Queen Victoria in rehearsal for The Empress Credit: Hugo Glendinning
Tanika Gupta, writer of The Empress Credit: Hugo Glendinning
Cast of The Empress in rehearsal Credit: Hugo Glendinning

Offering a glimpse into the world and character of Queen Victoria, Tanika Gupta’s The Empress gets its première in the Swan Theatre, Stratford this week.

The play “explores the intimate relationship between the ageing monarch and her Indian attendant, Abdul Karim, alongside the remarkable unknown stories of the Indian Ayahs living and working in 19th century London”.

Playwright Tanika Gupta makes her RSC debut with The Empress while Emma Rice, Kneehigh’s artistic director, returns to Stratford after her production of Cymbeline in 2006 as part of the Complete Works Festival and Don John in 2009.

The pair also collaborated on Wah! Wah! Girls at the Peacock Theatre last year.

Emma Rice said, “The Empress is astonishing. My breath was taken away when I first turned the pages of Tanika Gupta's gripping script.

“I gasped at the images, sounds, smells and colours of a time I thought I knew. Facts were re-drawn, re-written and passions ignited.

“Here is an untold history that reaches out and drags us to a new understanding of Victoria, her empire and her legacy.

“This will be like no other costume drama you’ve ever seen. Throw away the history books you were fed at school and open your hearts and minds to an England they tried to hide, tried to ignore and even tried to burn.

“I can’t wait to start realising this exhilarating, political and radical story. Fasten your seatbelts—it's going to be a bumpy and brilliant voyage!”

Tanika Gupta added, “The inspiration for my play came from a remarkable but simple black-and-white photograph in a book Ayahs and Lascars by Rozina Vishram.

“The photo was of a group of Asian Ayahs, or nannies, all sat around a Victorian drawing room, dressed in starched black uniforms.

“I was intrigued by these women and wanted to know more about what they were doing in 19th century London.

“Apparently, many of them had been brought over from the colonies to look after English children and were then dumped by their employers, leaving them destitute.

“I was amazed to discover Queen Victoria’s friendship with her Indian man-servant Abdul Karim and how that friendship nearly caused a constitutional crisis.”

Beatie Edney plays Queen Victoria. She last appeared in the RSC’s London production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the Ambassadors Theatre in 1986.

Also returning to the RSC are Ankur Bahl (Gandhi); Shiv Grewal (Dadabhai Naoroji); Tamzin Griffin (Lascar Sally); Kristin Hutchinson (Lady Sarah); Tony Jayawardena (Abdul Karim); Emily Mytton (Georgina); Anneika Rose (Rani Das) and Ed Woodall (Sir John Oakham).

They are joined by Rina Fatania (Firoza); Japjit Kaur (Ayah); Dominic Lawton (Lascar); Aki Omoshaybi (Serang) and Ray Panthaki (Hari).

The Empress is designed by Lez Brotherston with lighting by Malcolm Rippeth and music by Stuart Barker and Sheema Mukherjee. Sound design is by Jonathan Ruddick and puppetry by Sarah Wright.

The play runs in the Swan from Thursday (11 April) until Saturday 4 May. Press night will be on Wednesday 17 April.

*Some links, including Amazon, Stageplays.com, ATG Tickets, LOVEtheatre, BTG Tickets, Ticketmaster, The Ticket Factory, LW Theatres and QuayTickets, are affiliate links for which BTG may earn a small fee at no extra cost to the purchaser.

Are you sure?