There’s an ongoing conversation amongst those who care about such things as to how much of what is generally considered to be the dramatic works of William Shakespeare was actually written by him. This play goes beyond a consideration of, for example, bad composition, where a ‘compositor’ worked from handwritten manuscripts as best he could, going letter by letter (and punctuation mark) and making inevitable errors along the way of this rather laborious process. Emilia Lanier (nee Bassano), it is asserted in the play, was the real author of some of the canon of Shakespeare. While literature academics and specialists may not agree, the show nonetheless highlights women’s talents being ruthlessly exploited without credit where credit is due.
The title role is shared between three cast members, Shekinah Singh, Yasimin Nankya and Sunita Dugal: the production’s programme doesn’t include headshots. One of them serves as the show’s narrator, book in hand, which occasionally made me wonder if the actor was, as it were, ‘on book’, because she spent more time looking at her book than she did giving the audience eye contact, even though she was directly addressing us. Such was the frequency of her narration – little but often – that it was tempting to think the show as a whole had too much exposition, but in the end, what was dramatised significantly outweighed what wasn’t.
The play’s conclusion is as bizarre as ever – a call to action immediately followed by a celebratory dance – though this production does well to provide some context, through video projections of still and moving images, quite what it is that is being celebrated. That said, I couldn’t, ultimately, see much point in the inclusion of dances in the early part of the first half, which didn’t add much to the narrative other than to make the point that young women of a certain social status at the time were taught how to conduct themselves, schooled, as it were, in the airs and graces required of them. But not enough of the story had passed by then to justify a long dance break.
The set was suitably elaborate, without being too cluttered, allowing freedom of movement, and while I can’t claim to be an expert by any stretch of the imagination on what people wore in the early seventeenth century, the costumes in this production never felt out of place. The nuanced delivery of the dialogue was effective, and there were times when Emilia was both confident and apprehensive at once, the former because she knew what she believed in, the latter because – well, without giving too much away, she couldn’t predict the future. Specifically, there was no way of knowing in advance how effective (or not) her courses of action were going to be.
For all the business that went on in the higher echelons of society, it was Emilia’s experiences interacting with working-class women that were infinitely more intriguing. She had started a ‘pay what you can’ literature class, sharing and discussing her poetry, which led at least one other to write poetry of her own. It’s not a perfect script – an exchange between an older Emilia and the ghost of Shakespeare seemed a bit odd in the light of the portrayal, powerful and poignant as it was, of the death of her infant daughter. Still, there’s plenty of food for thought in this stylish and enthusiastically performed production.
Review by Chris Omaweng
Emilia Bassano was a poet, a teacher, a revolutionary force.
She refused to bow her head, even when history tried to reduce her to nothing more than Shakespeare’s muse.
But what if the words we’ve worshipped for centuries were actually hers?
No more silence. Join her. Laugh with her, rage with her, rise with her.
An all-female cast tears open the past to set Emilia’s story blazing – her words, her truth, her time. At last.
Together, we reclaim our voices.
Emilia 1 – Shekinah Singh
Emilia 2 – Yasimin Nankya
Emilia 3 – Sunita Dugal
Lady Mary Sidney, Mary, Margaret Johnson & Ensemble – Isabella Cottrell Kirby
Lady Katherine & Ensemble – Nina Flitman
Hester, Midwife, Lord Collins & Ensemble – Lisa Varty
Judith, Lord Carey, Lord Howard & Ensemble – Emily Hawley
Susan Berie, Eve, Bob & Ensemble – Felicia Massiah
Shakespeare & Man 2 – Kerala McGrail
Lord Lanier, Desdemona & Ensemble – Stella Robinson
Flora, Lady Margaret Clifford & Ensemble – Anne Marie Ryan
Lady Cordelia, Lady Anne, Dave & Ensemble – Alice Shuttleworth
Lady Helena, Emilia (Othello), Man 1 & Ensemble – Kenza Hurley
Written by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm
Director – Pam Redrup
Movement Director – Sophie George
Assistant Movement Director – Kerala McGrail
Set Designer – Bron Blake
Costume Designer – Hannah Victory
Lighting Designer – Andrew Whadcoat
EMILIA
The Questors Theatre
31 October to 8 November 2025
