The Gift

Janice Okoh's The Gift is a play about imperialism, cross-racial adoption, cultural appropriation – and tea.

Brighton, 1862. A day in the life of Sarah Bonetta, an African girl, adopted by Queen Victoria and raised in the Queen's circles. Today is the eve of her having to return to Africa, but will she go?

And in the present; a day in the life of Sarah, a middle-class woman living in a Cheshire village with her husband and small child. They are paid a visit by well-meaning neighbours who have something to confess.

Ola Ince directs this Guildhall School production.

Tagged with: Theatre & dance Guildhall School

Presented by Guildhall School of Music & Drama

Please note this production contains adult content, including references of racial abuse and violence, blood and injury detail, explicit and discriminatory language (including that around race), and references to enslavement. There will also be strobe lighting, haze and on-stage smoking.

This amateur production of 'The Gift' is presented by arrangement with Nick Hern Books.

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by Janice Okoh

Ola Ince director
Libby Watson set & costume designer
Diane Alison-Mitchell movement director
Jonathan Waller fight director
Raniah Al-Sayed intimacy director
Ashe de Waal lighting designer
Sam Greening composer
Reinis Melihovs sound designer
Abu Mensah video designer
Raphaella Philcox associate designer
Annemette Verspeak company voice work

Cast, in order of appearance

Aggie / Sarah Malikah McHerrin-Cobb
Harriet Waller / Queen Victoria Annabella Jennings*
Mrs Schoen / Harriet Miriam Petche
James Davies / James Ebenezer Gyau
Sarah Bonetta Davies Boni Adeliyi*
Reverend Venn / Ben Stanley Kayley

* Graduated from the BA (Hons) Acting programme in 2022

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