Preview: Princess and the Hustler, Bristol Old Vic

“My name is Phyllis Princess James. I will wear this crown every day. I will never take it off even when I am asleep.”

These lines are spoken, in Chino Odimba’s new play Princess & The Hustler, by the titular Princess: a cheeky 10-year-old with a plan to win the Weston super Mare Beauty Contest. Trouble is, her mum is busy working several jobs, her brother, a budding photographer, won’t even take her picture… and then The Hustler returns.

In 1963 Bristol, as Black British civil rights activists take to the streets, Princess finds out what it really means to be black and beautiful.

Shortlisted for the Alfred Fagon Award 2018 for Best New Play, Princess & The Hustler is the second national tour born from Revolution Mix – an Eclipse Theatre movement that is spearheading the largest-ever delivery of new Black British stories. The first Revolution Mix story was last year’s sell-out production of Black Men Walking.

We caught up with Chino, a playwright and former BBC Radio Bristol reporter, to quiz her on the play’s genesis.

“I wanted a story that was rooted in Bristol, which has been my home for 20 years,” Chino explains. “But then I started to think about the history of Bristol in relation to its Black history and how today we see so many people who lived through some very big moments in this history – like Paul Stephenson [spokesman for 1963’s hugely significant Bristol Bus Boycott], Alfred Fagon [Jamaican-born playwright, poet and actor, and long-term St Paul’s resident] and Princess Campbell – the first Black hospital ward sister in Bristol.

Playwright Chino Odimba

“I got to meet and interview Mrs Campbell several times whilst working at BBC Radio Bristol. Princess Campbell was such an amazing woman and for me symbolises some of the real heroes and heroines of the city. I named my main character Princess for this reason.” And who is The Hustler? “The Hustler is Princess’ father. A man she has never really met who comes back into her life in a big way.”

The play is being staged by Eclipse Theatre, a company who are “making strides in telling black Britain’s lost stories”. “This is the second time that I have worked with Eclipse,” Chino explains. “It’s great to be working with the again, as well with as the other co-producers [which also include Bristol Old Vic and the much-lauded Hull Truck]. Eclipse’s mission to bring Black British, stories, both contemporary and historical, to audiences is something I passionately believe in too. Audiences want to see more of this work – and for those experiences to be a part of theatre in the UK.”

So, how does Princess’ own world collide with the wider socio-political landscape? “The play centres around a family,” Chino explains. “And within that family is a young girl full of hopes and dreams, like any other young girl. The fact that Princess is from a Black family is only relevant because we get to see what I like to call ‘Black girl joy’. A girl living for her dreams. But for Princess, holding onto those dreams at this particular time in British, and Bristol history is not that easy. So as well as audiences having fun with Princess and her family, I want them to really engage with what some of the Black families in Bristol would have faced.”

Princess & The Hustler is at Bristol Old Vic from Feb 9-23. For more info, visit bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/princess-and-the-hustler

Read more: Black history in Bristol