THE EMPRESS
TANIKA GUPTA
THE EMPRESS
OBERON BOOKS
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First published in 2013 by Oberon Books Ltd
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Copyright © Tanika Gupta, 2013
Tanika Gupta is hereby identified as author of this play in accordance with section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The author has asserted her moral rights.
All rights whatsoever in this play are strictly reserved and application for performance etc. should be made before commencement of rehearsal to the The Agency (London) Ltd, 24 Pottery Lane, Holland Park, London W11 4LZ. No performance may be given unless a licence has been obtained, and no alterations may be made in the title or the text of the play without the author’s prior written consent.
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
PB ISBN: 978-1-84943-490-4
EPUB ISBN: 978-1-84943-836-0
Image design and typography by RSC Graphic Design.
Photograph of Anneika Rose by Jillian Edelstein.
Printed, bound and converted
by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY.
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This play is dedicated to my mother – Gairika Gupta
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the following people
for their insight and support in the writing of this play:
Michael Boyd, Jeanie O’Hare, Pippa Hill,
Rozina Visram and Emma Rice.
ABOUT THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY
The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre opened in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1879. Since then the plays of Shakespeare have been performed here, alongside the work of his contemporaries and of modern playwrights. In 1960 the Royal Shakespeare Company was formed, gaining its Royal Charter in 1961.
The founding Artistic Director, Peter Hall, created an ensemble theatre company of young actors and writers. The Company was led by Hall, Peter Brook and Michel Saint-Denis. The founding principles were threefold: the Company would embrace the freedom and power of Shakespeare’s work, train and develop young actors and directors and, crucially, experiment in new ways of making theatre. There was a new spirit amongst this post-war generation and they intended to open up Shakespeare’s plays as never before.
The impact of Peter Hall’s vision cannot be underplayed. In 1955 he premiered Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot in London, and the result was like opening a window during a storm. The tumult of new ideas emerging across Europe in art, theatre and literature came flooding into British theatre. Hall channelled this new excitement into the setting up of the Company in Stratford. Exciting breakthroughs took place in the rehearsal room and the studio day after day. The RSC became known for exhilarating performances of Shakespeare alongside new masterpieces such as The Homecoming and Old Times by Harold Pinter. It was a combination that thrilled audiences.
Peter Hall’s rigour on classical text became legendary, but what is little known is that he applied everything he learned working on Beckett, and later on Harold Pinter, to his work on Shakespeare, and likewise he applied everything he learned from Shakespeare onto modern texts. This close and exacting relationship between writers from different eras became the fuel which powered the creativity of the RSC.
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In our fifty years of producing new plays, we have sought out some of the most exciting writers of their generation. These have included: Edward Albee, Howard Barker, Edward Bond, Howard Brenton, Marina Carr, Caryl Churchill, Martin Crimp, David Edgar, Helen Edmundson, James Fenton, Georgia Fitch, David Greig, Dennis Kelly, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Martin McDonagh, Frank McGuinness, Rona Munro, Anthony Neilson, Harold Pinter, Phil Porter, Mike Poulton, Mark Ravenhill, Adriano Shaplin, Tom Stoppard, debbie tucker green and Roy Williams.
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NEW WORK AT THE RSC
We are a contemporary theatre company built on classical rigour. We commission playwrights to engage with the muscularity and ambition of the classics. We have recently re-launched the RSC Studio to resource writers, directors and actors to explore and develop new ideas for our stages. We invite writers to spend time with us in our rehearsal rooms, with our actors and practitioners. Alongside developing their own plays for our stages, we invite them to contribute dramaturgically to both our main stage Shakespeare productions and our Young People’s Shakespeare.
We believe that our writers help to establish a creative culture within the Company which both inspires new work and creates an ever more urgent sense of enquiry into the classics. The benefits work both ways. With our writers, our actors naturally learn the language of dramaturgical intervention and sharpen their interpretation of roles. Our writers benefit from re-discovering the stagecraft and theatre skills that have been lost over time. They regain the knack of writing roles for leading actors. They become hungry to use classical structures to power up their plays.
Pippa Hill is our Literary Manager and Mark Ravenhill is our Playwright in Residence.
The RSC Literary Department is generously supported by THE DRUE HEINZ TRUST.
The Empress is generously supported by THE LECHE TRUST.
CROSS is the exclusive pen partner of the RSC in support of New Work.
This production of The Empress was first performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company in the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, on 11 April 2013. The cast was as follows:
GANDHI
Ankur Bahl
SINGER/LASCAR
Dom Coyote
DADABHAI NAOROJI
Vincent Ebrahim
QUEEN VICTORIA
Beatie Edne
y
FIROZA
Rina Fatania
LASCAR SALLY/MARY
Tamzin Griffin
LADY SARAH
Kristin Hutchinson
ABDUL KARIM
Tony Jayawardena
SINGER/AYAH
Japjit Kaur
SUSAN MATTHEWS/GEORGINA
Emily Mytton
SERANG
Aki Omoshaybi
HARI
Ray Panthaki
RANI DAS
Anneika Rose
SIR JOHN OAKHAM/WILLIAM
Ed Woodall
All other parts played by members of the Company.
Directed by
Emma Rice
Designed by
Lez Brotherston
Lighting Designed by
Malcolm Rippeth
Music by
Stu Barker and
Sheema Mukherjee
Sound Designed by
Jonathan Ruddick
Fights by
Terry King
Director of Puppetry
Sarah Wright
Video Designed by
Maxwell White
Bharatanatyam Choreography by
Ankur Bahl
Company Movement by
Emma Rice
Additional Lyrics by
Dom Coyote
Company Text and Voice Work by
Lyn Darnley
Dialect Coach
Zabarjad Salam
Assistant Director
Dan Coleman
Music Director
Stu Barker
Music Supervisor
Tom Brady
Casting by
Helena Palmer CDG
Dramaturg
Pippa Hill
Production Managers
Mark Graham and
Janet Gautrey
Costume Supervisor
Ed Parry
Company Stage Manager
Suzi Blakey
Deputy Stage Manager
Amy Griffin
Assistant Stage Manager
Helen Fletcher
MUSICIANS
Violin/Accordion
Michael Keelan
Guitars/Percussion
David Brown
Sitar/Clarinet/Vocals
Sheema Mukherjee
Santoor/Trombone/Percussion
Double Bass/Bass Guitar
Dave Storer
Percussion
James Jones
This text may differ slightly from the play as performed.
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THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY
Patron
Her Majesty The Queen
President
His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales
Chairman
Nigel Hugill
Deputy Chairman
Lady Sainsbury of Turville CBE
Artistic Director
Gregory Doran
Executive Director
Catherine Mallyon
Board
Sir William Atkinson
Damon Buffini
David Burbidge OBE
Miranda Curtis
Gregory Doran (Artistic Director)
Mark Foster
Gilla Harris
John Hornby
Nigel Hugill
Catherine Mallyon (Executive Director)
Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall
Paul Morrell OBE
Lady Sainsbury of Turville CBE
James Shapiro
David Tennant
The RSC was established in 1961. It is incorporated under Royal Charter and is a registered charity, number 212481.
Contents
Character
Act One
Act Two
Notes
Characters
RANI DAS
16-year-old Bengali ayah. Ages to 29 years old.
HARI SHARMA
Young Indian lascar. Ages from his 20s to 30s.
ABDUL KARIM
24-year-old Indian servant to the Queen.
Ages to 37 years old.
DADABHAI NAOROJI
Elderly Parsi man
(Founder of Indian National Congress).
QUEEN VICTORIA
67 years of age to her death at the age of 81.
LASCAR SALLY
Boarding House landlady.
LADY SARAH
Queen Victoria’s Lady-In-Waiting.
GEORGINA
Housekeeper to Lord John Oakham.
LORD JOHN OAKHAM
Rani’s employer.
FIROZA
Indian ayah in her 30s.
OTHERS:
SERANG
Captain of the lascars.
MK GANDHI
18-year-old youth.
SUSAN MATTHEWS
Rani’s first employer.
CHARLOTTE
English missionary.
MARY
English missionary.
WILLIAM
English (Liberal) politician.
Others: children, ayahs, lascars, English Victorian people, Indian dancers, politicians.
Ayahs = Indian nannies who looked after English children.
Often in domestic servitude for life.
Lascars = Sailors from the Empire used by British Empire for ships trading throughout the Indian Empire. Often termed as ‘the black poor’.
The Empress is set in the last fourteen years of Queen Victoria’s rule. 1887-1901.
ACT ONE
1887
SCENE 1
We are on a ship’s upper deck circa 1887. We see a ragged group of Asian sailors (lascars) busily scrubbing the deck with soap and water. The lascars are from all different corners of the Asian sub-continent – Chinese, Indian and some black Africans too. All of them are barefooted and look undernourished and dirty. They sing as they scrub the deck.
SONG:
LASCARS:
There’s a Clan boat just leaving Bombay,
Bound for old Blighty’s shore;
Heavily loaded with bum engineers,
Bound for the land they abhor.
She’s down by the head, she’s listing to port,
She’s making three knots with the tide;
But you’ll get no enjoyment from Clan Line employment,
So come on, me lads, bless ’em all!
Bless ’em all, bless ’em all;
The Tindal, the Kasab and all;
Bless all the ‘Sparkies’, they’re all round the twist;
Bless all the pursers, and their limp wrists!
If the en
gineers can get us home,
The ‘Kala Pani’ no more will I roam;
’Cause you’ll get no promotion, this side of the ocean,
So cheer up, me lads, bless ’em all!
SONG: LASCAR RAP
Head across the Arabian sea,
Carrying opium, spices, tea.
Navigate ’round the cape of good hope,
Scrub the decks or get flogged with rope.
The ports of Bombay and Calcutta,
The banks of the Ganges to London gutters.
Bless them all and serve the Empire,
Queen and country, stoke the fire.
Bombay, Mandalay, Madagascar,
Ship’d never sail without the lascas.
The ports of Canada to the Ivory Coast,