Serving Elizabeth: Television Centred Drama Asks Important questions about Colonialism

Serving Elizabeth, written by Marcia Johnson and directed by Marcel Stewart, deals with contemporary concerns of historical representation and cultural accuracy in Western media. The inspiration for the play’s investigation, an episode of season 1 of The Crown in which a then Princess Elizabeth visits Kenya, provides a recognizable event for viewers to learn about the importance of which voices are included and which are left out in the re-telling of history. Although the initial presentation of sequences is a bit confusing (the play alternates between segments that take place both at the time of Elizabeth’s visit in 1952 and in the present day), Serving Elizabeth successfully gets its message across through the heated debates and exchanges that its characters engage in.

The show begins with a radio broadcast announcing the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya, which occurred throughout the 1950s in that country, followed by a scene of a mother and daughter working together at a family-owned café. Mercy (Johnson) has an argument with her daughter Faith (Makambe K Simamba) about the latter’s educational prospects, quickly establishing the financial situation of these characters. Their fortune suddenly takes a turn, however, when an English traveller named Lester Talbot (Andy Trihardt) stops in. Upon sampling some of Mercy’s food, he offers her what is seemingly the chance of a lifetime: cooking for the Princess and the Duke of Edinburgh while they are staying in Kenya. This segment ends shortly after Mercy and her daughter deliberate over whether she should accept the position, shifting to the present-day storyline, which revolves around Tia, a young Kenyan-Canadian intern (also played by Simamba) working for a TV production company in Britain. Her company is planning to shoot an episode in Africa about the Princess’s very visit to Kenya, which inevitably ensues in cultural misconceptions which eventually pit Tia against the show’s writer, Maurice Gilder (Trihardt).

To its credit, the show includes some nuance in its handling of issues of privilege in storytelling, initially depicting Tia and her white English supervisor Robin (Shannon Currie) as holding divergent views on the monarchy. In an interesting role reversal, Tia thinks of the Royal family fondly, mentioning her desire to be a princess when she was younger, while Robin’s view of them is more jaded, seeing them as an archaic relic of an imperialistic Britain. An imagined conversation between Mercy and Elizabeth (Currie) also points to the potential of those in privileged positions to gain awareness of the experiences of ordinary people (and by implication, help effect change). This lesson, of course, is not just meant to be applied to figures such as the Princess, but to all of us who benefit from the promotion of certain narratives over others.

The struggles of the main characters Mercy and Faith/Tia, as women trying to make their voices heard, are captured well by the portrayals of Johnson and Simamba respectively. Convincing accents are also deployed for the Kenyan roles, grounding a firm sense of place for the segments that are set there. Andy Trihardt is also effective as both Lester and Gilder, with his characters’ privileged positions playing well against those of Mercy and Tia. Decent performances are given by Currie and Jordin Hall, who portrays the love interests of Faith and Tia from different time periods (though his accent as the British Steven slips at times). Indeed, the inclusion of a dialect coach among the creative team for the show alludes to the difficulty of mastering certain accents. In regards to the technical aspects, the over-hanging wooden arch and antique furniture of the set by Rachel Forbes is a highlight.

Serving Elizabeth by Marcia Johnson

Cast:
HRH Princess Elizabeth/Robin – Shannon Currie
Montague/Steven – Jordin Hall
Mercy/Patricia – Marcia Johnson
Faith/Tia – Makambe K Simamba
Talbot/Maurice – Andy Trihardt

Creative Team:
Director – Marcel Stewart
Set & Costume Designer – Rachel Forbes
Sound Designer – Andrew Penner
Lighting Designer – Echo Zhou
Assistant Sound Designer – Maddie Bautista
Stage Manager – Jordan Guetter
Intimacy Coordinator – Siobhan Richardson