“Looked down by neighbours. Labelled as traitors and shamed as beasts. We protested with peace. We protested with speech. But we’re still beaten in the streets. And hit by police”
Latitude Festival recently announced first names for their 13th Edition, which takes place on Thursday 12th – Sunday 15th July 2018 in the stunning grounds of Henham Park, Suffolk. Recently awarded Best Major Festival by UK Festival Awards, Latitude is pleased to announce that Suffrageddon, a ground-breaking new hip-hop musical telling the story of Emmeline Pankhurst and the fight for votes for women, will be joining the arts filled line up.Tickets are available from here.
Following a standing ovation and rapturous reception to early material and a crowd funding campaign which surpassed all expectations, Suffrageddon comes to Latitude this summer. It’s the story of British women then, told by British women now (with no apologies to the wonderful Lin-Manuel Miranda because this isn’t a time to be apologising to men!). It is an opportunity for women of colour to reframe a narrative which often excludes them and a chance for the world to see this story told through the revolutionary beats of hip-hop. This modern retelling of Emmeline Pankhurst’s story and the women’s suffrage movement includes other notable suffragettes such as Sylvia Pankhurst, Millicent Fawcett, and Sophia Duleep Singh (an Indian-British militant suffragette that has been described as a ‘rock star’).
The piece is being created and composed by Rebecca Phillips (a.k.a Omahrose) and Mark Hodge, with writing and performances from Roxxxan, Oracy Chambers, Aminita Francis and Koko Brown. It has been commissioned by Deborah Frances-White and is a Guilty Feminist production.
Deborah Frances-White says,
“The suffragettes were almost all white, and women of colour were structurally excluded so we at The Guilty Feminist wanted to do something to address that fact for the centenary. Hamilton really inspired me. The founding fathers of America started with the statement that it was self-evident that ‘all men are created equal’ while they enslaved Africans. Their idea was bigger than their intentions. It arrives with Lesley Odom Jr and Daveed Diggs cutting up Broadway and taking all the Tonys. Similarly, the suffragettes’ idea arrives with these amazing women on the stage at Latitude, in the West End and on tour, developing a full-length musical using hip-hop – the music of revolution – making the story relevant and reaching a broad and young audience who often feel failed or marginalised by democracy. The idea of the suffragettes lands here with Suffrageddon and this cast and this audience. We hope it will entertain and inspire activism and participation.”
The material which currently stretches to around 12 minutes, was performed during a live recording of The Guilty Feminist at the London Palladium earlier this year and met with a standing ovation. One of those at the recording was Tania Harrison, art curator for Latitude Festival, who immediately commissioned the show and hopes to bring the musical to other UK festivals across the summer.