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Theatre

Sylvia, Old Vic Theatre review ★★★★★

27 Jan 23 – 01 Apr 23, 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM

Joyful, uplifting, life enhancing, Kate Prince’s hip-hop suffragette musical Sylvia is a sure hit for the Old Vic

32 CW readers are interested
Kirstie Skivington, Razak Osman, Sharon Rose, Beverley Knight and Ellena Vincent in Sylvia at The Old Vic 2023 © Manuel Harlan
Kirstie Skivington, Razak Osman, Sharon Rose, Beverley Knight and Ellena Vincent in Sylvia at The Old Vic 2023 © Manuel Harlan
Sylvia, Old Vic Theatre review 4 Sylvia, Old Vic Theatre review Teresa Guerreiro
From an unpromising chrysalis, a bright butterfly has finally emerged. Sylvia, the story of suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst told through hip-hop, should have opened in 2018 to mark the centenary of women’s suffrage; instead, troubled and unfinished, it was presented only as a work in progress.


Spool forward five years, and the finished Sylvia proves well worth the wait. With book by the proven hit maker Kate Prince, founder and director of the hip-hop sensation ZooNation, and Priya Parmar, and pulsating music by Josh Cohen and DJ Walde, Sylvia gives renewed vibrancy to the historic struggle for women’s suffrage.



BOOK HERE

Sylvia Pankhurst, the middle daughter of the better-known suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, played by Beverley Knight in stupendous voice, was a complex character: artist, uncompromising campaigner, feminist, socialist, a born rebel. And it is to Sylvia’s credit, and Sharon Rose’s sparkling interpretation, that all those facets come across loud and clear.


With Lolita Chakrabarti’s impeccable dramaturgy and fluent, conversational lyrics not averse to the odd anachronism ensuring that the story is clearly told, Sylvia runs from 1903, when women organised to campaign for votes, through 1918, when some women were given the right to vote, to 1928 when universal suffrage finally became law.


The work’s palette (sets and costumes by Ben Stones) starts off mostly monochrome, the set in shades of grey surmounted by a large banner where dates are projected, while the five-person band plays on a raised platform at the back. Natasha Chivers's lighting is atmospheric with flashes of blue and white underlining key moments.


Hip-hop started life as the street dance of dispossessed urban youth, and so its language – energetic, jerky, challenging, provocative – perfectly suits a musical about a fight where all the odds were for so long stacked against the defiant campaigners.



The Company in Sylvia at the Old Vic 2023. Photo: © Manuel Harlan
The whole ensemble shows the skill and commitment of all Prince’s performers in the two decades since her company has been creating hit after hit.


A secondary character always shines through, in this case the irrepressible Jade Hackett’s show-stealing turn as Winston Churchill’s daunting, reactionary mama.



Verity Blyth, Jade Hackett and Jay Perry in Sylvia at The Old Vic 2023. Photo: © Manuel Harlan
Most of the men featured in Sylvia are negative characters, from the pompous Winston Churchill (Jay Perry), vehemently opposed to votes for women, and a firm believer in the notion that, as a chorus loudly chants ‘men are better put together than women’, to Prime Minister Lloyd George (Stevie Hutchinson), the wheeler-dealer politician par excellence, and the well-meaning but ineffectual Labour leader Keir Hardie (Alex Gaumont), with whom Sylvia had a four-year affair.


Presented more positively, though still a slightly silly young man prone to break into falsetto singing, is the Italian journalist Silvio Corio (Sweeney), whom Sylvia meets when she settles in the East End to fight for the rights of poor women there, and who became Sylvia’s lover and the father of her son.



Sweeney as Silvio Corio and Sharon Rose as Sylvia Pankhurst in Sylvia at The Old Vic. Photo: © Manuel Harlan
The women are a joy, even someone as ambiguous as Emmeline Pankhurst, by all accounts not the most affectionate of mothers, whose concern for women didn’t stretch much beyond the middle classes.


Sylvia’s greatest merit is that it doesn’t sacrifice political complexity to entertainment. With its high production values, it's a deeply joyful show which keeps you thinking long after its triumphant finale.




BOOK HERE





What Sylvia, Old Vic Theatre review
Where The Old Vic, The Cut, London, SE1 8NB | MAP
Nearest tube Waterloo (underground)
When 27 Jan 23 – 01 Apr 23, 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM
Price £10 - £67.50
Website Click here to book



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What members say

    This show was simply outstanding! Katie Prince is a talented lady. It was fun, entertaining and powerful. The music was lively, the dancing was amazing Read more

    Pam Cramer

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We recommend nearby

  • The Anchor & Hope, Borough

    This British gastropub venue boasts cosy comforts, a wood-panelled dining and original artwork that is available to buy. The reliable and thoughtful seasonal menu may feature rabbit with mustard sauce and excellent chips, or steamed Scottish cod fillet and spinach. Tables can only be booked in advance in person at the bar, so it is worth arriving early to snare a reservation.

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    Book Map
32

Sylvia

Old Vic

Kate Prince

Priya Parmar

Josh Cohen DJ Walde

Lolita Chakrabarti

Ben Stones

Natasha Chivers

Beverley Knight

Sharon Rose

Jade Hackett

Jay Perry

Stevie Hutchinson

Alex Gaumont

Sweeney

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