The RSC’s production of “The Empress” by Tanika Gupta, which first premiered in 2013 and has been brought back for their 2023 season in The Swan, follows the parallel stories of nursemaid Rani (Tanya Katyal) and servant Abdul (Raj Bajaj). The two stories begin and end at the same place, but remain fairly separate throughout most of the play, as both characters go on very different journeys whilst facing the same discrimination.
Both characters meet on the journey from India to England in 1887, where Rani is accompanying a family as nursemaid (or “aayah”) for their children, whilst Abdul is headed for a new job as a waiter for Queen Victoria (Alexandra Gilbreath).
Their stories go separate ways as soon as the ship reaches England’s shores. The audience follows Rani’s tragic story as she is dismissed by her employers, and gets a job working for the horrific Lord Oakham (Oliver Hembrough). Here I felt the story became a little cliché – it felt like something I’d seen variations of so many times before, but perhaps this is the point. In the early 1900s, this treatment of working class women was rife (and sadly, still is today in many parts of society).
Perhaps a little more interesting is the (true) story of Abdul Karim, who forges a strong friendship with the Queen, much to the horror of her close confidant Lady Sarah (Francesca Faridany). The play takes place across 15 years, allowing us to follow Abdul and Victoria’s entire story from their first meeting to her death in 1901.
The staging of the play is expertly done, taking the audience from the deck of a ship, to the Queen’s court, to the seedy brothel of Lascar Sally – even to India (albeit in the form of a “dream sequence”, with the large cast able to bring to life a thriving Indian market complete with traditional Hindu dancing). There were, however, moments where I felt too many things were happening on stage at once, to the point where it became distracting from the main characters.
In the second half of the play, Rani begins to work for politician Dadabhai Naoroji (Simon Rivers), the UK’s first Indian MP, who tries to change the fortunes of the Indians, but ultimately decides to resign when he finds his attempts fruitless. This was a particularly interesting part of history that I had no knowledge of before seeing this play, so I was very glad that the play covered this (and also found Gupta’s biography of Naoroji in the programme very interesting).
Throughout the play, Rani dreams of being reunited with her childhood sweetheart Hari (Aaron Gill, who is fairly likeable if a bit bland). The two get their fairytale ending, which is perhaps necessary due to the sad endings met by Naoroji and Abdul, providing the play with a more uplifting ending.
Overall, this play was a nice surprise for me – I knew nothing about the play beforehand, and wasn’t sure what to expect. I really enjoyed learning new historical details about life in Victoria’s empire, and found the performances engaging throughout. A great night at the theatre, and would thoroughly recommend.
Tom Morley, July 2023
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