Essex on Stage: Princess Essex

Southend-on-Sea, Essex. 1908.Tired of her life, Joanna decides to take matters into her own hands and enter herself into one of the country’s most prestigious beauty pageants, disguised as a Senegalese Princess. Based on the little-known, true story of Princess Dinubolu, Princess Essex is the funny and dynamic tale of the first black woman to ever enter a beauty pageant in the UK.

Princess Essex is written and performed by Anne Odeke (RSC, Shakespeare’s Globe, Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch).

The piece has been created with public funding from Arts Council England, and with much thanks to the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, The Mercury Theatre Colchester, Creative Estuary and the South Essex African & Caribbean Association (SEACA).