Not much is known about the life of Emilia Bassano, a writer and teacher who lived from 1569-1645 and whose poetry was the first printed in the English language by a woman. Yet plenty of intrigue and conjecture surrounds this little know figure from our national literacy heritage.
As the daughter of a court musician and mistress of Elizabeth I's Lord Chamberlain, it's highly likely that Emilia, a contemporary of William Shakespeare, would have crossed paths with the Bard, and some speculation suggests that she is, in fact, the "Dark Lady" mentioned in several of his sonnets. That her legacy as a writer has been largely forgotten in favour of being a hypothetical muse is just one of the wrongs set to rights in Emila, Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s 2018 Olivier Award-winning play currently being performed by the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School at Circomedia in St Pauls.
Lloyd Malcome's play takes things further, suggesting that Emilia was responsible for some of Shakespeare's work, offering a hypothetical biography of an extraordinary woman who carved out a space as a professional writer at a time when stepping outside the norm could provoke accusations of witchcraft. With just enough fact and plenty of societal truth, Emilia packs an unashamedly feminist punch in its postmodern retelling of history.
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Directed by Bristol Old Vic Associate Sally Cookson, Emilia is playing in Bristol for the first time, performed by an excellent cast of 12 from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, including three outstanding actors handling Emilia at different stages of her life.
Taking on Emilia’s younger years, from a girl torn away from her mother to a woman grieving for the loss of her own child, Gaia Ashwood imbues her performance with a courtly restrain underpinned with youthful optimism and matter-of-fact ambition.
As she ages and navigates the worlds of society, romance and art, Emilia gradually becomes galvanised by loss and silence. Once the point the baton is handed to Assa Kanouté, she is a woman crackling with purpose, energy and rage.
Throughout the evening, Sumāh Ebelé, who plays Emilia in her final years, skillfully leads the audience through the poet's life with touches of humour. After she takes the lead, her grounding narrative combusts, crescendoing into an incandescent and breathtaking final address levelled at the audience.
The power of this speech is ever so slightly undermined by a burst of finale choreography from the full company, but this rousing celebration does at least allow for a triumphant moment honouring Emilia and ensuring her name isn't going to be forgotten again any time soon.
The entire cast delivers impeccably all evening, easily slipping in and out of characters. Sophie Charlton plays a roguish Shakespeare with the swaggering cockiness of a man who already knows he'll be on the syllabus for centuries, while Petra Joan-Athene takes on Lord Alphonso Lanier, Emilia's cousin and husband, with sparky humour and pointed tragedy.
The simple, clean lines of Alice Sale's classic but modern set, adeptly aided by lighting design from Adrianne Broadgate, act as a blank canvas against which the clever costumes from Rhiannon Binnington pop. While the Emilias dress in ink-spattered parchment, the rest of the cast don vibrant layers, and the effect when the entire company gathers for each of the show's baroque-meets-electro dance moments is glorious.
This mash-up of music from John O'Hara exquisitely underscores Emilia's story and is aided by a perfectly judged sound design from Ebony Hayes, providing subtle vocal reinforcement and stylised moments.
When it was originally performed at The Globe, Lloyd Malcolm’s play had the added pathos of being staged in Shakespeare's “gaff”, albeit a reconstructed one. In the towering space of Circomedia, however, it is no less powerful as the slick contemporary edge of the production design and young, dynamic cast lend a timelessness to this story of a woman overlooked and a universality of those who struggle to make their voices heard.
Emilia is playing at Circomedia until February 25. Tickets cost £12/£10, and the runtime is 2hrs 10, including an interval. Circomedia is located at Portland Square, St Paul's, Bristol BS2 8SJ and has step-free access. Tickets can be booked from Circomedia.
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