The Empress

Tanika Gupta's "The Empress" looks at the roles and challenges of Asians coming to the UK in the late 19th century - a time when The Empire was at it height, just before it fell, when they were seen as, at the same time, both exotic and worthless. Three stories are overlapped here. Firstly that of Abdul Karim, a "gift" to Queen Victoria sent to act as a servant who eventually became her Munshi (teacher) and close companion and much resented by the Royal Household (see reference below). Secondly, that of Rani, a young Ayah, whose treatment at the hands of the British middle and upper classes left much to be desired and whose love of the lascar (lowest of the low sailor) Henri suffers many setbacks. Finally the young Gandhi and the first Asian MP Dadabhai Naoroji (see reference below).

The design and staging of this play (Lez Brotherston and colleagues) is magnificent, fluid, personal, unobtrusive and engrossing. I make no apology for covering it first, it is so well crafted and integrated. The stage switches effortlessly between the Palace, ship, docklands and posh houses using projection, simple dressing, beautifully thought our images and water - water that represents the British as an Island Race but also allows one of the most moving and beautifully crafted sequences during the laying out of Victoria. Music and dance pervade the piece, helping it to flow, even the sudden inclusion of some rap doesn't seem out of place as it is so much a part of the story-telling.

Queen Victoria (Beatie Edney), who was very much amused apparently by the gift of an Indian servant, is a hard person to depict as we all have such fixed ideas, but I enjoyed this giggly, petulant, self-confident character and her relationship with Abdul (Tony Jayawardena) whose polite self-interest and resignation to his lot was beautifully pointed. Lady Sarah (Kristin Hutchinson), whose understanding of the roles and positions of Royals and Servants was too fixed to accept this new intruder was a lovely, frustrated foil to this relationship.

Rani (Anneika Rose) and Hari (Ray Panthaki) depict, perhaps, a more normal Asian experience in the Britain of the time; bottom of the heap, only good for meanial work or as "status servants". Theirs is a lovely story in its own right, worthy of a stand alone play and acted with a subtelty and conviction that carried you straight into their world. The ensemble work, and some of the individual performances, were quite beautiful, often poignant and occasionally really funny but whilst the remainder of the cast provide an excellent  framework for the story, it is those central four performances I shall remember most.

I am somewhat saddened that I knew so little of the Asian role in British life at that time, even the Munshi was news to me - I'm glad that this play might start to correct some of that ignorance. Tanika Gupta's script is cleverly crafted, it looks at the reality of the time without pointing fingers or laying out accusations, at the end we see the distant dawn of a new, post-Empire world ... still far from perfect but perhaps less unfair.

Emma Rice's direction manages to make the 160minutes of performance flash by, I was genuinely sorry it was over.  This is theatre at its best, informative, entertaining, memorable story telling .. I shall carry some of these images with me for a very long time.