Emilia

This review was originally written in April 2019 for my modern theater class at NYU London.

Emilia is an incredible display of timeless feminism that speaks to women across generations. Written by Morgan Lloyd Malcom and containing an all-female cast and creative team, it tells the story of Emilia Lanyer, the so-called “Dark Lady” of Shakespeare’s sonnets. It speaks of her time in court, and her life as a poet in her own right. Three actresses (Saffron Coomber, Adelle Leonce, and Clare Perkins) play Emilia over the course of her life. They represent the age, growth and hardship of a woman expressing ideals so far before her time. 

As the play was initially intended to be performed in The Globe, the set is designed to mimic it. With actors walking up and down aisles, music and dance, and creating scenes in the balcony, the play is designed to create a closeness and interaction with the audience. This is also shown in Emilia’s interaction with the audience in the attempt to tell her own story and acknowledging the story that was told of her. In the end, Emilia calls all women. She speaks of how it is okay to be angry, it is okay to want to scream, it is okay to fight back from oppression. In this, Emilia is an exquisite representation of feminism in its attempt to take back and honor the life of a woman reduced to a whore by those who did not understand her work as women throughout history often were.