Festival Theatre, Edinburgh
Four stars
As any armchair radical knows, if you can’t dance to the everyday insurrection you’re at the vanguard of, it’s not a real revolution at all. This grade A manifesto is taken to the max in Kate Prince’s smash hit musical based around the figure of Sylvia Pankhurst, the real life suffragette who campaigned in the UK during the early years of the twentieth century for votes for women. As the daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, who might be regarded as one of the mothers of the women’s movement, Sylvia is a chip off the old block. Later, alas, she finds herself at odds with her family for not taking a by any means necessary approach to her activism, but gets the vote anyway.
If all that sounds rather dry, think again. With music by Josh Cohen and DJ Walde to go with Prince’s lyrics and a book penned with Priya Parmar, this is history told in the form of a non-stop mash up of hip hop, soul, funk and gospel. This in turn is brought to life by Prince’s large cast by way of a series of fast moving scenes and mass ensemble shape-throwing that make for an exhilarating lesson on the messy birth of first wave feminism.
From the monumental block lettering of Andrzej Goulding’s projections that caption each scene, Prince’s own production is making a great big statement on the century old fallout regarding equal rights. As Ben Stones’ set moves from black to red in keeping with Sylvia shifting allegiances, this makes for a whistle-stop burl through history, with one show-stoppping moment after another. As the women line up in defiance of the male hordes who tower above them wielding batons they are happy to use to shut the women up, it makes for a damning stage picture of male violence against women.
With appearances by Winston Churchill, Lloyd George and a pretty cool Keir Hardie played by Tachia Newall, the boys club is bad enough, but when Sylvia finds herself up against a sisterhood who squeeze her out of her own movement, it is telling of the political schisms that prevail.
All this is delivered by a dynamic and well-drilled 20-strong ensemble driven by a live band who wouldn’t sound out of place at the late night sessions at Edinburgh’s nearby Jazz Bar. Cohen and DJ Walde’s score is full of little musical nods as well to already existing pop bangers, with the whole thing resembling a giant revue.
Beverley Knight has already won an Olivier award as Emmeline. As she brings all her soul diva experience to bear in her return to the role in this new touring version, it’s not hard to see why. As the Pankhurst family feud turns into an ideological battleground, Naomi Katiyo more than holds her own as Sylvia in a show that makes history hip as it shows off how sisters really were doing it for themselves.
The Herald, October 15th 2026
ends
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