London Theatre Review: Emilia at the Vaudeville Theatre
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**Morgan Lloyd Malcolm**’s play *Emilia*, transferred from the Shakespeare’s Globe, finally puts ‘The Dark Lady’ in the spotlight.
Emilia is played by three actresses; **Saffron Coomber** as the young Emilia coming to terms with the death of her parents and making her way through the royal court, **Adelle Leonce** as an older Emilia with more wisdom and further pain and **Clare Perkins** is Emilia at the end of her life looking back on the injustices she faced as a woman and as a creative.
*Emilia*, with its all-female cast and creative team, is an interesting twist on the all-male companies of William Shakespeare. Shakespeare (played by **Charity Wakefield)** was Emilia’s lover and actually named two characters in his plays after her. [***Emilia***](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/play/3841/emilia-tickets.aspx) is a reminder that even the most talented, clever and unique women in history struggled to find their place in the world.
Lloyd Malcolm is a strong writer and she isn’t just writing on behalf of Emilia but all women. She shows Emilia working with washerwomen to improve their literacy and *Emilia* feels like a ‘throwing-the-ladder-down’ moment to other female writers when Morgan could easily have rolled it back up to enjoy the fruits of her success.
Directed by **Nicole Charles** this play keeps the fun and chaos of a Globe production and there are some stand out performances from Wakefield as Shakespeare, **Carolyn Pickles** as Emilia’s lover and benefactor Lord Henry Carey, **Amanda Wilkin** as her useless husband Alfonso and great support from all the cast including **Nadia Albina** and **Sophie Stone**, actresses with disabilities who were not playing disabled characters. This level of diversity is rarely seen on the stage and I commend the production team for paving the way forward for other productions to do more. I was also drawn to **Sarah Seggari**, I look forward to catching her in more productions.
*Emilia* isn’t a frothy tale about a sexy woman who writes poetry. It is an emotional rollercoaster with Clare Perkin’s final speech worth the 2hours and 30-minute running time. Both my friend and I were in tears and other audience members seemed supportive that these words were being said. If you loved Nell Gwynn, you will love Emilia.
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*Emi**lia* is playing at the Vaudeville Theatre through 15 June.
[**Book Emilia tickets now and save up to £26 with tickets starting at just £25**](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/play/3841/emilia-tickets.aspx)!