Mary Prince (3rd Draft)

BATTERSEA WRITERS’ GROUP SCRIPT REPORT


TITLE: Mary Prince (3rd Draft)
WRITER: Jason Young
FORMAT: Radio Play
DATE: Wednesday 30th August 2006
READER: Mary Prince read by Irina Aggrey, Susannah Strickland read by Elyse Marks; Thomas Pringle read by Rod Newman; Lilia read by Sarah Wingate; Sarah read by Leann O’Kasi; Mr. Dathan/Captain Johnson read by Henry Douthwaite; Master Dickey read by James Lucas; Daniel James read by Christopher Streeks; Old Daniel read by Andrew Foster; Bethany read by Kirsten Shaw; Martha Wilcox read by Clare Mercurius-Taylor; Narrated by Lisa Shelley.

SUMMARY
Set in 1831 in London, it is the story of a runaway slave woman who dictates her history in order to give momentum to the Abolition of Slavery Bill.

SYNOPSIS
When twenty-something Susannah Strickland is instructed by her boss, Thomas Pringle, to notate the history of a runaway slave woman by the name of Mary Prince, she is almost dismissive of the task.

As Strickland learns more and more about Prince’s experiences on plantations in the British Caribbean, she becomes more sympathetic towards Prince’s situation. She discusses it in more detail with her boss, and begins to change her aspirations for the future.

An emotional connection between the two women is born when Prince describes in detail how she was subjected to sexual abuse by her masters. Strickland places herself in that scenario, and full empathy towards Prince ensues.

The manuscript of Prince’s history is complete, and Strickland apologises to her for the misery that people of her class and race have subjected her to. They are both equals: Prince, liberated from her past as a slave; Strickland, on a new road to observing and documenting life in the British colonies.

ANALYSIS
Well paced. It is the story of the emergence and naivety of the middle classes towards plantation slavery. More should be made of the aftermath of the 1833 Abolition of Slavery Act.