Princess Essex - The Globe Theatre
Sept 19, 2024 18:25:34 GMT
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lightinthedarkness and jr like this
Post by Steve on Sept 19, 2024 18:25:34 GMT
This show is GREAT FUN (and earns its spot alongside other Globe originals like Nell Gwyn and Emilia), which is an odd thing to say about a show that is about racism, among other things.
Also, the writer plays the lead, which always makes me a little suspicious, as if the show only exists so they can get a role. But no, Anne Odeke is absolutely adorable in this as the title character, and the show is a laugh riot, as well as meaningful.
The biggest flaw is that it covers SO much ground, so many characters and their stories, that it isn't as focused as it could be, but all the stories are funny and entertaining.
The play existed in a one woman version that played at the Bush Theatre a couple of years ago, but this version, judging by reviews, is chalk and cheese different, a full on entertainment full of Edwardian scallywags that I thoroughly enjoyed, not least because Anne Odeke is so wonderful in the title role.
With a little extra development to tighten the focus, this show could happily follow Nell Gwyn and Emilia into the West End.
Some spoilers follow. . .
Very little is known about the true story on which this play is based. What is known is that a black woman representing herself as Princess Dinubolu, a real life Princess from Senegal, entered and competed in the 1908 beauty pageant at the Kursaal in Southend,Essex.
Everything else is speculation, but since Senegal was a French colony, the most likely truth is that the woman was not in fact from Senegal, but in league with the Kursaal events manager, Mr. Bacon, to create a sensation and sell lots of tickets. . .
From this threadbare story, Odeke conjures a huge cast of loveable scallywags, with Odeke's own affable "Princess Dinubolu" and Matthew Ashforde's Essex Impresario Parsley Bacon at the heart of it all.
Around these two, Odeke threads SO MANY genuinely funny characters: Eloise Secker's laugh-out-loud Daddy's girl, a kind of 1908 Regina George who wants that "CROWN!;" her put-upon Mayor Dad, Simon Startin, who is under SO much pressure to make the show happen; Anne Odeke's Joanna's posh stuttering hysterical boss, Mrs. Bugle, played by a twitching needy Lizzie Hopley channeling every performance by Sophie Thompson; Parsley Bacon's wife, played by a ferocious Jamie-Rose Monk as the real power behind the Kursaal throne; a Barnum style performer called Batwa, played by Alison Halstead as a million times more intelligent and dignified than her persona; and last but not least, John Cummins' Dirty Bertie, King Edward VII, the King who only ever had one agenda.
This plot has so many fun twists, and so many characters that it often feels like Downton Abbey, complete with secret suffragette, and this is why plotwise, it does feel a bit too stuffed and unfocused at times.
But damn, this was so entertaining. Yes, it addresses our racist past, and the rotten King has a nasty bite, but overall, I haven't laughed this much at the Globe in ages.
I mean, Essex and Kent, Southend and Folkestone, are hilariously at war with each other for tourism business in this show (I was rooting for Essex), and the lengths all these scallywags will go to compete, and get theirs, had me laughing like a drain.
The ultra-loveable Odeke easily earns 4 stars from me for this raucous entertainment, which, if shaped and focused a little more could be even better.
Also, the writer plays the lead, which always makes me a little suspicious, as if the show only exists so they can get a role. But no, Anne Odeke is absolutely adorable in this as the title character, and the show is a laugh riot, as well as meaningful.
The biggest flaw is that it covers SO much ground, so many characters and their stories, that it isn't as focused as it could be, but all the stories are funny and entertaining.
The play existed in a one woman version that played at the Bush Theatre a couple of years ago, but this version, judging by reviews, is chalk and cheese different, a full on entertainment full of Edwardian scallywags that I thoroughly enjoyed, not least because Anne Odeke is so wonderful in the title role.
With a little extra development to tighten the focus, this show could happily follow Nell Gwyn and Emilia into the West End.
Some spoilers follow. . .
Very little is known about the true story on which this play is based. What is known is that a black woman representing herself as Princess Dinubolu, a real life Princess from Senegal, entered and competed in the 1908 beauty pageant at the Kursaal in Southend,Essex.
Everything else is speculation, but since Senegal was a French colony, the most likely truth is that the woman was not in fact from Senegal, but in league with the Kursaal events manager, Mr. Bacon, to create a sensation and sell lots of tickets. . .
From this threadbare story, Odeke conjures a huge cast of loveable scallywags, with Odeke's own affable "Princess Dinubolu" and Matthew Ashforde's Essex Impresario Parsley Bacon at the heart of it all.
Around these two, Odeke threads SO MANY genuinely funny characters: Eloise Secker's laugh-out-loud Daddy's girl, a kind of 1908 Regina George who wants that "CROWN!;" her put-upon Mayor Dad, Simon Startin, who is under SO much pressure to make the show happen; Anne Odeke's Joanna's posh stuttering hysterical boss, Mrs. Bugle, played by a twitching needy Lizzie Hopley channeling every performance by Sophie Thompson; Parsley Bacon's wife, played by a ferocious Jamie-Rose Monk as the real power behind the Kursaal throne; a Barnum style performer called Batwa, played by Alison Halstead as a million times more intelligent and dignified than her persona; and last but not least, John Cummins' Dirty Bertie, King Edward VII, the King who only ever had one agenda.
This plot has so many fun twists, and so many characters that it often feels like Downton Abbey, complete with secret suffragette, and this is why plotwise, it does feel a bit too stuffed and unfocused at times.
But damn, this was so entertaining. Yes, it addresses our racist past, and the rotten King has a nasty bite, but overall, I haven't laughed this much at the Globe in ages.
I mean, Essex and Kent, Southend and Folkestone, are hilariously at war with each other for tourism business in this show (I was rooting for Essex), and the lengths all these scallywags will go to compete, and get theirs, had me laughing like a drain.
The ultra-loveable Odeke easily earns 4 stars from me for this raucous entertainment, which, if shaped and focused a little more could be even better.
