Review by Sam Waite
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
It feels only right that a play based around Princess Dinubolu of Senegal, a history-making woman, should itself make history. Just as her subject became the first non-white woman (as far as records show) to enter a beauty pageant, Princess Essex marks not only Anne Odeke’s playwriting debut for Shakespeare’s Globe, but also makes her the first woman of colour to write and perform her own work on its stage. No stranger to the Globe as a performer, this is an opportunity for Odeke to prove herself as a playwright, and one she makes a glorious success of.

Running with a long-standing theory, Odeke’s Princess Dinubolu is neither from Senegal, nor a member of any monarchy – Joanna is a brash, outspoken maid living in Southend-on-Sea in 1908, whose disguise allows her to bypass racial prejudice to enter her hometown’s first ever pageant. After a spat with her employer, the clueless but well-meaning Mrs Bugle, Joanna leaves her job in order to rescue The Great Batwa, a novelty attraction of a recent performance whose mistreatment stirs resentment in her, but who turns out to be entirely in on the money-money scheme of it all. Soon enough, a deal is struck with the manager of the local Kursaal theatre – she will enter under her assumed identity, and the presence of royalty will help him fill the 4000 seats and outdo the recent beauty pageant in rival Folkstone.
The show has, naturally, plenty to say about the mistreatment of those viewed as less-than – Black Batwa is reduced to a savage in the eyes of his audience, biracial Joanna is dismissed as other even by Batwa himself, and the lady-led plans behind the event’s success are publicly the successes of the men. Alongside the barbs against racism, the nods to public complacency, and a dynamic reference to women’s suffrage – which, to paraphrase one Ms Buffay-Hannigan-Bananahammock, sounds like a bad thing, but was good – there are also touching comments on friendship, on being served by those you choose to keep in your life. “I miss you,” Joanna tells her mistress. “But I don’t miss the way you make me feel.”

Hysterical on stage, Anne Odeke also proves herself a fantastic playwright. Her commentary and calls to action are clear but never cloying, her humour ever-present but not overwhelmingly so. More than willing to make a fool of herself, she writes beautiful, richly-realised characters and performs her role with a brashness and audaciousness that immediately has the crowd on side. Odeke also brings a real heft to emotional scenes, both in the way she navigates them on the page and how she handles them in the open air of the Globe. While the cast must project to not be overwhelmed by external sounds, she in particular brings a grounded, human quality to the lines – it’s easy to believe that this is no theatrical necessity, but merely a woman with a loud mouth and a lack of filter.
The rest of the cast are also marvellous, flipping between roles rapid-fire and carrying every scene with a great deal of humour. Alison Halstead has a beautiful amount of snark as Batwa, while Eloise Secker and Yasmin Teheri prove a genius comedy duo when their primary roles – the mayor’s daughter, and the Kursaal manager’s maid – unite to form a beauty pageant dream team. John Cummins nearly steals the show as King Edward VII, given a ludicrous musical number, “Dirty Berty”, in which he lists of the many women he’s taken to bed, making his reasoning for supporting the princess’ visit all too clear.

Music, a combination of brief original comic numbers (see above) from composer Simon Slater and existing material – “Me Pal” and “I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside” get bright, jaunty turns – is scattered throughout the play, never intrusive and present just enough to add a joyful touch to the proceedings. Cleverly, further versions of “Beside The Seaside” are used later in the performance, perhaps a nod to how unprepared to people of Southend are to create something completely new. Odeke’s script is cheerful and winking enough that these moments don’t interrupt the proceedings, and Joanna belting “Me Pal” as part of an effort to prove she knows The Great Batwa is both entirely absurd and completely in keeping with the tone established elsewhere. A strong group of musicians – banjoist/guitarist Ashley Blasse, trombonist/tubist Yusuf Narcin, percussionist Louise Duggan, and saxophonist/clarinettist Melanie Henry – sit above the stage, supporting the company below with their skilful, bouncy accompaniments, neither a part of the show nor truly detached from it, involved to just the right degree.
With little in the way of staging, the Globe stage often bare save for perhaps a chair or a tea-cart, director Robin Belfield manages to create this fictional version of Southend-on-Sea within our imaginations. Helped by the grand, attractive costumes from designer Hayley Grindle and wardrobe head Emma Lucy Hughes, Belfield finds a good balance between the humanity and the broadness of these characters. Well-suited to a venue where projection is so key, the ensemble of actors all craft over the top personas, the kind of people you’d expect to be speaking that bit too loudly and about matters you couldn’t begin to follow.

Born from a poem, which became a one-woman show, and then developed into this full-fledged play, Princess Essex is proof of Anne Odeke’s immeasurable skills, both as actor and as creator. Carrying herself beautifully but not over-writing or over-playing her own role, she has crafted a piece in which every actor and every major character has their moment to shine. Whether it’s quick-to-hysterics Mrs Bugle, over-this-business manager Mr Bacon, or hyper-informed closeted suffragette Harriett, everyone gets their laugh, their gasp, and their opportunity to receive the applause they so deserve.
Princess Essex’s status as a history-making work is a sign of a gradually improving world, and the sheer strength of the cast, the material, and in particular of Odeke herself, prove that this debut was the right place, the right time, and certainly the right play. With plenty of laughs, the odd moment that brings a tear to the eye, and a powerful, deeply-felt finale, this is a show more than worthy of the Globe’s historic status. At the end of the night, the applause continued for so long, without its volume dropping, that the cast returning for a second bow felt not like an inevitable second call, but something all-but demanded by the audience, and a firm determination that all involved receive more kudos than any crowd could give.
Princess Essex plays at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre until October 26th
For tickets and information visit https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/whats-on/princess-essex/
Photos by Johan Persson