Review: Sylvia

Sylvia, a hip-hop musical which casts Black actors as the Suffragettes, is having its world premiere at the Old Vic

Jay Darcy Theatre Editor

As a Mancunian, a feminist and a person of colour, Sylvia is one of the shows I have been most looking forward to. A hip-hop musical, it tells the story of Sylvia Pankhurst, the daughter of the better-known Emmeline, casting Black actors as historical figures, such as the aforementioned and even Winston Churchill!

Casting people of colour as historical figures and telling their stories through modern music seems to be the new standard – from Hamilton to Six, arguably the two biggest musicals of recent years. These creative decisions give historical stories new relevance and relatability. Sylvia appears to be minded of the girl in the red coat in the otherwise black-andwhite Schindler’s List

The dull aesthetic did become a little tiresome and monotonous in the first act. It reminded me of Chicago, which similarly has very little colour (and even less set). The repetitive red in an otherwise monochrome world began to feel a little pretentious, and the red was not quite as impactful as the designers thought it would be.

But then came the second act, in which the musical became more invested in socialism and thus the colour red became more significant and, thus, profound. The scene in which Sylvia (Sharon Rose) and working-class activists, all draped in red, celebrate socialism was particularly poignant. The musical dismissed the Suffragette’s purple,

Whilst I was familiar with Emmeline Pankhurst, especially as a Mancunian (sorta), British education does not think the Suffragettes important enough to teach us much about so I actually learned a lot from this musical.

Sylvia is musically flawless, aesthetically

Emmeline (Beverley Knight MBE) was initially aligned with the then-new Labour Party, especially because of her friendship with its founder and first leader, Keir Hardie. Whilst Hardie was sympathetic with and supportive of the pacifist Suffragists, he disavowed the horror for all modern Mancunians) but I did not know how she got there; Sylvia succeeded at presenting the iconic feminist’s unfortunate journey to the dark (blue) side.

Christabel (Ellena Vincent) aligned herself with her mother, and the musical made sure to address her queerness. However, Adela (Kirstie Skivington) and Sylvia were, paradoxically, both more and less radical in their thinking. They were less radical in that they were critical of the Suffragettes’ violent tactics but more radical in that they were critical of the Suffragettes’ disinterest in the rights of the working-class.

Emmeline became content with the establishment and status quo as soon as rich women received the right to vote, and Christabel believed that engaging with ment (she wasn’t even an Aussie!).

The Pankhursts were not too different from the Mitfords!

For a musical to cast Black actors in lead roles (only Hardie, Adela and Clementine Churchill are played by White actors) to not explore the complex racial politics of the early feminists is a missed opportunity. Like Hamilton (which subversively cast people of colour as the slave-owning Founding Fathers but incorrectly presented the “goodies” as entirely opposed to slavery), it’s a bit of a whitewash.

I take further issue with the omission of Sophia Duleep Singh, a British Suffragette of Indian and German origin. Why cast Black actors as White Suffragettes but neglect to do so much as mention an actual Sufragette of colour?

Sylvia fantastically engages with competing feminist thoughts, inspired by both musicals but it’s also got its own identity – seen especially through its simple but inventive design.

The designers have opted for white, and green, in favour of socialist red: all the Pankhursts were proud feminists; the central debate (and divide) was their stance on so - violent Suffragettes and strug gled to get his MPs, members and supporters to get on board with women’s rights at all.

Emmeline became dissatisfied working class issues would pose a threat to the fight for women’s rights – and that other issues could easily be tackled once (rich) women had the right to vote.

Sylvia, meanwhile, became a passionate socialist and fell in love with the married Hardie, before a long-term relationship with Italian anarchist Silvio Corio. She fell pregnant out of wedlock and was cut off by her mother for refusing to marry Silvio (their son was the late Richard Pankhurst OBE).

However, the musical did not address some pretty important points: Emmeline’s defence and celebration of the British Empire, Sylvia’s ardent opposition to imperialism, and Adela’s own political metamorphosis: initially a socialist, her politics became more radical; she founded the Communist Party of Australia before shifting right (even further than her mother) and establishing the fascist Australia First Move - and was intersectional insofar as it explored class politics, but there was an elephant in the room –a brown one.

Musically, Sylvia was everything you’d want a hip-hop musical to be. I was bopping along all throughout. The musical’s opening number is fun and groovy but nothing stellar. However, the introduction of Winston Churchill’s mother, Lady Jennie (Jade Hackett), completely shifted the tone and sound. The entire audience had their jaws on the floor; we were not expecting that. Every time Hackett came onstage as Jennie, the audience chuckled and whooped; she stole the show with her powerful rapping and Caribbean swagger.

Sylvia is musically flawless, aesthetically daring, politically astute, and perfectly cast. It received rave reviews during previews and even got an extension – it’s so rare for a show to be extended during previews! Whilst it might not reach the heights of Hamilton or be as successful Six it might. It’s an entertaining and edifying extravaganza that deserves a West End transfer.

Ella Robinson Editor-in-Chief

Edith was unlike any other play I’d seen. The crowd was the jury, but not in an intense audience participation way. From making you stand in the opening few minutes, ‘All rise’, it became the audience’s responsibility to listen to the evidence and come to their own conclusion of the case.

The concept of the play was simple. It used court transcripts of the trial of Edith Thompson, one of the last women to be executed in the UK in 1922. She was accused of inciting murder, and the main evidence was her love letters. The play posed the question, would the same verdict be found 100 years on?

Edith at times tried a little too hard to set the story in a modern context, adding modern music - Edith and her husband’s first meeting was whilst dancing the macarena. But the story really shone when it made use of the real court transcripts, bringing the audience into the arguments of the prosecution and defence, and highlighting the leading comments from the judge.