Stratford Festival/Serving Elizabeth by Marcia Johnson, directed by Kimberley Rampersad, Tom Patterson Theatre Canopy, Aug. 28 to Sept. 26 (live performance), Oct 28 to Nov. 28 (streaming). Tickets available at stratfordfestival.ca.
Serving Elizabeth is so bold, so brash, so intelligent, and so complex, that the play is absolutely refreshing. That’s because Jamaican-Canadian playwright Marcia Johnson is not afraid to break the rules of the well-made play.
The sprawling structure covers two time periods. The past takes place in 1952 when the then Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh were on a tour of Kenya, and where she learned that she had become queen, following the death of her father, George VI.
The present day is set in London, England where Tia, a young Kenyan-Canadian wannabe playwright, is working as an intern on a big budget TV series that sounds suspiciously like The Crown. The two time periods intersect over Elizabeth’s Kenya visit.
Not only does the play flash back and forth from the past to the present while playing fast and loose between fiction and reality, seriousness and humour, Johnson also throws in a scene from Tia’s pathetically bad romcom script which is an absolute howler, a flashback to Elizabeth’s 21st birthday radio address when she promised to serve her people, and a whole bunch of red herrings to make us doubt what we’ve just seen.
Which brings us to the clever title, Serving Elizabeth.
In 1952, Mercy (Arlene Duncan), a renown Kikuyu cook, is hired to serve the Princess while she is staying at Sagana Lodge on a private visit. The problem is that Mercy supports the Kenyan resistance against colonial rule, and was herself involved in a revolt by farm women. Her hate of the British is all-consuming. Mercy’s daughter Faith (Virgilia Griffith) brow-beats Mercy into accepting the cook job, (helped by a dirty trick), which will give them the money to send Faith to university.
We also meet the Princess’ envoy, Mr. Talbot (Sean Arbuckle) and his Cambridge-educated Kenyan assistant and chauffeur Montague (Cameron Grant). Talbot is serving Elizabeth, Montague is serving Talbot, Mercy is serving at the lodge while supporting Kenyan independence, while Faith is serving her future. And yes, we do meet the Princess herself (Sarah Topham).
In the present day, the characters are serving the TV series, through producing (Topham), casting (Duncan), acting (Grant) and writing (Arbuckle), with Griffith as intern Tia. The team is also serving history with this episode about Elizabeth in Kenya.
The most important element in both time periods is finding the voice of the Kenyan people themselves. Shortly after Elizabeth’s visit, the Mau Mau Uprising (1952-1956) began and became one of the most bloody anti-colonial fights against British rule. In the present day, Tia keeps pounding away at her masters that the Kenyans should not be mere background wallpaper to the Whites.
Director Kimberley Rampersad has done a slambang job of keeping all the many thematic, dramatic, theatrical and structural elements of Serving Elizabeth in play like a very adept juggler. She also never loses sight of character, portrayed by her marvellous cast. What a talent Rampersad is turning out to be.
I must also point out the incredible job of costume designer A.W. Nadine Grant (and the speedy backstage crew). The play has 13 roles in total, but only five actors who negotiate through a dizzying number of fast costume changes that all look wonderful. Grant must have used up every piece of Velcro in Stratford. Tamara Marie Kucheran has provided a set of easy movable, yet evocative period pieces, while composer Debashis Sinha’s clever score bridges the cultural divide.
It is also important to acknowledge the genesis of this terrific play. It was commissioned by the Thousand Islands Playhouse in 2017, and co-developed with Western Canada Theatre in Kamloops, BC. Both theatres presented their co-production in 2020, making Serving Elizabeth a shining example of the contribution of two small regional theatres to Can Lit. And let’s hear it for the Stratford Festival for putting Serving Elizabeth on its playlist.
Lastly, let’s give a huge congratulations to playwright Johnson for taking the audience on this provocative and immensely enjoyable theatrical ride.
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