Beverley Knight to return to 'Sylvia' in Royal Albert Hall run

Sylvia had its world premiere production at The Old Vic in 2023 and tells the untold story of the rebellious middle child of Emmeline Pankhurst.

Summary

• Star of Sister Act and The Drifters Girl Beverley Knight will return to the musical Sylvia
• The show will run for five performances only at the Royal Albert Hall as part of a UK tour
• Kate Prince choreographs and directs

Olivier Award winner Beverley Knight will reprise her role as Emmeline Pankhurst in Sylvia during a run at the Royal Albert Hall this autumn, following a UK tour. She will be joined by Sharon Rose as Sylvia.

The show, which will play at the Royal Albert Hall on 13 November (evening), 14 November (matinee and evening) and 15 November (matinee and evening), had its world premiere production at The Old Vic in 2023 and tells the untold story of the rebellious middle child of Emmeline Pankhurst. The hip hop, funk and soul musical has a soundtrack by Josh Cohen and DJ Walde and books, lyrics, direction, and choreography by Kate Prince (ZooNation).

Knight said: “I could not be more chuffed to reprise my role as Emmeline Pankhurst one more time! The spirit, courage and determination of the suffragettes and in particular Sylvia Pankhurst is so brilliantly celebrated in this show. The Soul, R&B, HipHop and Blues reflects the joy, passion and the fight of the women and their allies. It seemed to me like the perfect place to perform Sylvia was the very stage on which the suffragettes were roundly expelled and rejected, the Royal Albert Hall. Over 100 years later Sylvia and the Suffragettes are returning to triumph.”

Prince added: "I’m so thrilled that we now have the opportunity to share Sylvia with even more audiences. It’s such an essential part of our history and to bring the voices of those who came before us back to life feels so right. From the very beginning, I wanted to create something fresh and relevant, that honoured the past while being uplifting and joyful.

"Taking Sylvia to the mighty Royal Albert Hall feels like a full circle moment, knowing that many women’s rights trailblazers, including Sylvia Pankhurst herself, once spoke there and inspired audiences. This is incredibly exciting for me and I’m so thankful and proud of everyone who has supported the production from the very beginning, it’s been a real evolution, of a revolution!"

The rest of the creative team includes Priya Parmar (Book), Ben Stones (Set and Costume), Natasha Chivers (Lighting), Tony Gayle (Sound), Andrzej Goulding (Video and Animation), Cynthia De La Rosa (Wigs, Hair and Make-up), Lolita Chakrabarti (Dramaturgy), and Sean Green (Music Supervisor).

Check back for Sylvia tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Photo credit: Sharon Rose and Beverley Knight. (Photo by Craig Sugden)