When the suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst stood up at the Albert Hall in 1912 and declared, “I incite this meeting to rebellion”, she probably didn’t imagine her name would be hailed on the same stage by feminist performers more than a century later.
Pankhurst was later banned from the hall but her rebellious spirit persists. Tonight’s gathering, two days before International Women’s Day, is a fundraiser for the Circle, a global feminist organisation co-founded by Annie Lennox which fights for the rights of women and girls facing violence and injustice across the world. For this seamlessly staged three-hour show, Lennox has gathered like-minded performers who include poets, activists and musicians plus ringmaster Clara Amfo, who notes that where Pankhurst was campaigning for equality for some women, the Circle wants to make life better for all.
