The world premiere of the play The Daughter of Time opens in London this month, based on the book by Josephine Tey.
“London, 1950. Inspector Alan Grant, laid up in hospital, investigates the alleged crimes of Richard III and the murder of the Princes in the Tower as a “cold case file.”
What begins as a distraction becomes an urgent mission, as Grant tangles with two scheming Shakespearean actors, a couple of opinionated nurses, his own sceptical deputy, and a lovesick young American historical researcher to solve his case.
And, along the way, he might just solve the mystery of his own heart.”
Where: Charing Cross Theatre
When: 18 Jul-14 Sep
Ticket link: https://charingcrosstheatre.co.uk/theatre/the-daughter-of-time
Playwright M Kilburg Reddy tells us more about the show below.
Crime, history, and comedy come together in this adaptation of Josephine Tey’s novel. How did you start to untangle all the threads to make this work as a piece of theatre?
In writing my play, I tried conscientiously to preserve the DNA of Tey’s book and I was very much inspired by her fearlessness in questioning reported history.
That said, my play draws some historical conclusions different to Tey’s, and I hope audiences will be open to considering my interpretation of events.
Besides Grant’s historical investigation, I focused on developing his journey and storyline, giving him an urgency to solve the mystery, as well as the journeys of all of Tey’s other wonderful characters, who each make a contribution to solving the mystery and have their own story arcs.
The biggest change I made was to bring in a new character who becomes a catalyst for a number of subplots.
Like Marta Hallard, the added character is a West End stage star, and I think Josephine would have approved because she counted among her friends stage luminaries like Sir John Gielgud and Dame Edith Evans and was herself a playwright, writing under the name Gordon Daviot.
The character of Inspector Grant is perhaps key to the enterprise, as he’s a curious type of policeman and finds he has some sympathy for Richard III when the cold case is reopened. Will audiences find echoes of other literary sleuths in him?
Inspector Grant was for Josephine Tey what Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple were for Agatha Christie, a character she continued to develop across multiple storylines in her books.
Grant is a sort of “gentleman detective” who is a brilliant crimesolver but also a cultured and literary person, moving easily across social strata and at home in different spheres.
Much like Tey herself was.
The Charing Cross Theatre is an interesting space to show work. What do you find easy to work with, and what do you find more challenging?
Honestly when Jenny (Eastop, director) and I were thinking about spaces, we said that our ideal venue would be one with a bit of history and architectural character, because the play is set in 1950s London and the mystery takes place in medieval London.
We were over the moon when we got the offer from Charing Cross Theatre to present the world premiere of our play there.
The Charing Cross Theatre started its existence as a Victorian era music hall under the Station and has a feel of old London with its wonderful brick arches entryway and its location in the footprint of medieval London, not far from the river.
It’s been a great place to work on the first-ever professional production of the play because of its support of new work.
The Daughter of Time is the last novel Tey completed, and the last of six featuring Inspector Grant. Why this novel, and have you made any modern tweaks to this story or left it as immediate post-WW2?
The Daughter of Time was the first Tey novel I ever read and I was immediately sparked by the injustice done to Richard III’s historical reputation and also the theme of how history can be deliberately manipulated to serve a political agenda.
Later I read all of Tey’s Inspector Grant novels and I used little bits of several to fill in the characters and relationships in my play. I left the Inspector Grant story in its 1950s timeline but updated the mystery and its solution to reflect modern historical research since Tey was writing.
In my 30s I spent two years practicing law as a criminal defense appeals attorney in Manhattan, even once getting a conviction vacated for lack of evidence, a rare result, so I built the defense case for Richard that I would have found most plausible defending him in court.
I will leave it to the most important jury, our audiences, to decide whether I have made my case.
Can you give us a hint to what audiences can expect when they come along to see the show?
I hope they will find an entertaining show with lots of variety and humor in the characters, intriguing subplots, and a historical mystery that tickles their brains.