Sophia directed by Abigail Pickard Price

Sophia is a film/theatre hybrid, filmed during the dying days of the UK Covid lockdown, and looks at the life of Asian suffragette and goddaughter to Queen Victoria, Sophia Duleep Singh. The film looks at both the events, which shaped Sophia’s life as well as her legacy. Filmed in a single day, Sophia has now won ten international film awards at festivals around the world. Starring Sakuntala Ramanee, the film highlights the actions of the British government in over throwing her father, Maharaj Duleep Singh and taking his empire and yet the piece highlights how this did not embitter Sophia but rather became the driving force for Sophia to fight for the voting rights of all women. Directed by Abigail Pickard-Price and written and produced by Beverly Andrews, with women’s rights now under threat in many countries around the world, Sophia is very much a film for our times.

FORM-Idea

“Sophia is a powerful example of the possibilities of a new form born during this period. It is not quite a film and not quite a stage play but rather a play, which has been specifically written to be filmed in a theatre and viewed on a screen. With a limited budget, funded by the Arts Council UK, this piece shows what it is possible to portray from a theatre space, via film, reminiscent of but very different to Lars Von Trier’s ‘Dogville’ with Nicole Kidman.”

The Reviews Hub

“Andrews points to the alarmingly thin veneer of civility when it is exposed to resistance. The connection between Sophia, Irene, Sally and Annie is particularly well drawn, and as the central performer, a lot rests on Sakuntala Ramanee, but she creates a warm, engaging character. Sophia’s experience of being at the epicentre of Edwardian society, but also sidelined due to her race, is depicted by characters brushing past each other on the stage– near misses and deliberate snubs. As the play ends we are reminded that the fight to be heard, and listened to, is not over.”