Emilia director Nicole Charles: A 'wave of change' is hitting the West End

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Robert Dex @RobDexES22 March 2019

The director of Emilia says the all-female show is part of “a wave of change” coming to the West End.

The play tells the story of Emilia Bassano who in 1611 became the first English woman to publish a book of poems.

The opening last night follows the recent launch of Waitress, a musical with an all-female creative team, and comes just months after Natasha Gordon became the first black British woman playwright to have a play in the West End.

Director Nicole Charles said Emilia, which started at Shakespeare’s Globe, felt like “a huge opportunity” for the women working on it. “I think we’re reaching a much larger audience here and we aren’t preaching to the converted here,” she said.

“You know the West End theatre crowd is utterly different to the Globe and that’s really exciting and it means the kind of writing on show and the conversation is broadening and that’s the change and it’s just great to be part of the wave of change.”

Bassano’s poetry is often overlooked by scholars who have instead considered whether she might be the mysterious “dark lady” who inspired some of Shakespeare’s celebrated sonnets.

Playwright Morgan Lloyd Malcolm said she would not want the play to be performed with a mixed-gender cast.

She said: “It’s about the women, it’s not even just about the play, it’s about actually being given the opportunity to play parts they don’t usually get to play.”

Emilia at the Vaudeville Theatre - in pictures

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