The Empress weaves together the stories of four people arriving in England by ship in 1887, a time when the arrogance and brutality of Britain’s Empire was in full swing, extending itself to every part of the globe.
It wasn’t just the wealth of other countries that ships brought back to England. Since an aya (nursemaid) from India is cheaper than one from England, an English family is accompanied by the sixteen-year-old aya Rani Das, who is given a central engaging performance by Tanya Katyal.
Among the ship’s other travellers the “inquisitive” Rani talks with on the journey are the lascar sailor Hari (Aaron Gill), the politician Dadabhai Naroji (Simon Rivers) and Abdul Karim (Raj Bajaj), the man who is described in the play as being sent as a gift to Queen Victoria by John Tyler who was knighted the following year.
Rani is shocked to be dumped like many ayahs on arrival. Having little money to get back to India and no idea where to go, she desperately asks women on the streets for work, managing to get a job as a nursemaid for a time, before being sexually assaulted by the husband of her employer.
Her story is realistic and believable, her character thoughtful and spirited, the acting by Tanya always engaging.
Hari also loses his job on his next voyage when he tries to organise a petition among the other lascar sailors that asks for equal pay to the white sailors. He is beaten up and kicked off the ship.
He will see Rani again years later when he finds her working for Dadabhai, who becomes MP for Finsbury in London. To the noisy disapproval of other MPs, he makes a brilliant speech in Parliament critical of British rule in India, where he points out they are extracting India’s wealth while its men women and children are starving. He declares that the Monarch is the “Empress of famine and the Queen of black death.”
Queen Victoria, played by Alexandra Galbreath, is rarely out of sight. Sometimes, she sits in a picture frame to one side of the stage and at other times, she, along with her companion Lady Sarah (Francesca Faridany), is positioned on a level above the rest of the action. This is where she meets Abdul Karim who, despite the worried consternation of the court, she clearly likes and designates a teacher.
The Queen’s situation, along with some of her conversations and even her expressions, are the source of most of the play’s humour. They are also, despite their entertainment value, the least realistic and convincing moments of the play. However, they do illustrate the limits even of the monarch’s power.
This very watchable, three-hour show gives us a glimpse of the British mistreatment of India and a more accurate account than the nonsense of government as to the reasons people from other countries find their way to Britain. Maybe they should watch it.