Theatre News

Deborah Frances-White to host Emilia pre-show Q&A on WhatsOnStage

”The Guilty Feminist” host will be taking to WhatsOnStage’s social media to discuss the Olivier Award-winning show with the West End piece’s team

Deborah Frances-White
Deborah Frances-White

Deborah Frances-White will host a special pre-show event ahead of the online premiere of Morgan Lloyd Malcolm's Emilia on Tuesday evening.

Presented live on the WhatsOnStage Instagram page, Frances-White will be joined by Malcolm and members of the cast in the run-up to the online premiere at 7.30pm BST. After the show ends there will also be a Q&A between Malcolm and director Nicole Charles.

Frances-White described the three-time Olivier Award-winning production as: "the throbbing heart of Shakespeare, the delicious comedy of Blackadder and is frankly nothing less than a trip to feminist church."

On top of the pre-show Instagram Live, there will be hashtags #EmiliaWatchParty and #IAmEmilia to watch along via Twitter.

Emilia, which ran in the West End last year, will be available online for two weeks from 10 to 24 November. Audiences will be able to pay what they can to watch the piece, which will be available from the Emilia Live website.

The show tells the story of Emilia Bassano, Renaissance poet, polemicist and contemporary of Shakespeare. Some believe she is the 'dark lady' of the sonnets.

Captioned and audio described recordings are available.

Directed by Nicole Charles, the West End cast is composed of Nadia Albina, Anna Andresen, Christina Bloom, Jackie Clune, Saffron Coomber, Lauren Drennan, Eva Fontaine, Cora Kirk, Adelle Leonce, Jenni Maitland, Clare Perkins, Carolyn Pickles, Sarah Seggari, Sophie Stone, Samantha Sutherland, Rosanna Ter-Berg, Charity Wakefield, Amanda Wilkin and Tanika Yearwood.

Emilia is designed by Joanna Scotcher, with lighting by Zoe Spurr, sound by Emma Laxton, choreography and movement by Anna Morrissey, composition by Luisa Gerstein, musical direction by Yshani Perinpanayagam, fight direction by Rachel Bown-Williams And Ruth Cooper-Brown of Rc-Annie Ltd, casting by Karishma Balani, voice coaching by Tess Dignan, assistant direction by Rafaella Marcus, assistant design by Amelia Jane Hankin, associate lighting by Anna Reddyhoff, assistant choreography by Christina Fulcher, production management by Sacha Milroy, costume supervision by Sian Harriss and wig supervision by Jessica Plews.