Based on a true story, Princess Essex tells of Joanna, a mixed-race maid from Southend, who yearns to participate in the town's upcoming beauty pageant. To achieve her dreams, she constructs an elaborate ruse with the event's organiser, and becomes Princess Dinubolu of Senegal! Chaos ensues, and profound messages of identity, equality, and the importance of fighting for it pervade the piece.
To say the least, the relentless insistence of an encore from an astounded and inspired audience is testament to the brilliance at play here.
Anne Odeke's work is a generation-defining piece of theatre. Her writing is exceptional, with a true gift for humour (only intensified in her side-splittingly funny performance, but more on that later) and creating an entirely entertaining story which says so much more than its narrative. She depicts a wonderfully tangible setting of Southend-on-Sea, which will feel charmingly familiar to those with Essex connections. This beautiful setting is only furthered through Ellen Hartley's voice & accent coaching, Emily Carne and Abby Forman's scenic art, and Isobel Pellow's costumes (made by Julie Ashworth, Rachel Hodgson, and Claire Powell).
Impressively, Odeke manages to write characters who epitomise various aspects of the complexities and nuance of how racism takes hold and is still experienced today - those who embrace the othering of people who are different in order to profit, those who use their power to treat others as less-than, and those on a journey to do better but who still get it wrong along the way. Not shying away from difficult language and uncomfortable scenes (in particular, she writes ridiculously awful men ridiculously well), there is still an overwhelming sense of compassion and realism that underpins the play and nods to the journey of which we all must be a part. How Odeke is able to communicate such complicated themes like racism and sexism - how they have been in the past and how they still are - with such skill and potency is awe-inspiring. Not to mention the fact that she manages to weave in some brilliant songs - frustratingly, we could not hear them all quite as well as we should, given the particular acoustic challenges at The Globe, but what was caught was a delight, and the contrasting renditions of 'Oh I do like to be beside the seaside' were fabulous.
Alongside the songs that were a challenge to hear, the stage combat in this piece was underwhelming and needs some reworking in order to bring this play's true potential to the fore.
Where Odeke's work truly shines, in fact, is in her comfort (both as writer and performer) and, frankly, mastery of the art of the pause. She relishes in silence, highlighting hugely uncomfortable moments and letting us hear the laughter that would have been present not 100 years ago, as well as employing it as a weapon of hysterical comedy. All this seems a mark of unique and talented writing, which it is, but it is also much more deliberate than that. In a monologue that brings an audience to tears, Odeke expresses "Are you ready to listen? Silence. A world of noise and silence, dancing together. How can we have all the words and all the silence, all at the same time?" She has been sowing seeds of this silence throughout her play the entire time!!! This is also a mark of generally excellent direction from Robin Belfield, who completely understands what is required to bring this potent play to the vibrant life it deserves.
The gorgeously diverse cast (with race, age, gender, and size only being referenced when genuinely relevant to the story) is not without weaker links, but does, overall, showcase a host of incredible talent. Lizzie Hopley shines as the well-intentioned but woefully ignorant Mrs Bugle; Matthew Ashforde brings delightful charm and warmth to Mr Bacon; Tyreke Leslie shows of his comedic chops in a range of ensemble roles; and Nigel Barrett, though painfully underused, is a brilliant comic and villain of sorts when he does get his moments in the spotlight.
However, it is difficult to even conceive of this play being the force that it is without its heart, Anne Odeke. So often, when writer and star are the same, the quality of a production suffers for it; this could not be further from the case here. Odeke knows exactly how to perform her own material, and has clearly embraced Belfield's direction of the piece. Her talent for comedy is, truly, unmatched - oozing charisma from her first line, she has the audience eating out of the palm of her hand throughout. She owns the stage as if it was built for her, and has utter command of the tonal shifts throughout this gorgeously complex journey.
Frankly the most disappointing thing about this performance was the empty seats and space in the Yard that deserve to be packed to the brim!
An opportunity to be at The Globe for something incredibly special that will have you in stitches and tears, Princess Essex runs until 26th October.
Review: Penny Lane Photos: Johan Persson