Beverley Knight: It's a 100-year-old story but also a story of today
In Sylvia, Beverley Knight stars as Emmeline Pankhurst, the political activist who led the suffragette movement to win votes for women, but lost her family. The award-winning singer and musical star talks about the complexity of her inspiring character and how hip-hop, funk and soul make it a musical for today.
Fresh from appearing in BBC’s Last Night of the Proms at the Albert Hall, where she sang I Will Always Love You in a tribute to Dolly Parton, Beverley Knight returns north of the Border this month in the musical Sylvia, starring as suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst in the role that won her an Olivier Award at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre.
The Albert Hall setting was both ironic and sweet for Knight as it was the venue for more than 20 suffragette rallies in the fight to win women the vote until they were banned from the hall between 1913 and 1918.
Born and raised in Wolverhampton she burst onto the music scene with her 1995 debut The B-Funk and over three decades has released nine studio albums up to 2023’s Fifth Chapter, amassing multiple gold and platinum records and winning three MOBO Awards.
Best known for hits such as Greatest Day, Shoulda Woulda Coulda and Keep This Fire Burning, the 53-year-old moved into musical theatre in 2013 with The Bodyguard and went on to star in musicals such as Memphis The Musical, Cats, The Drifters Girl, Sister Act The Musical and Marie & Rosetta, winning a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical in 2023.
Appointed MBE in 2006 for her contributions to British music, she lives in London with her husband, wellness coach, James O’Keefe who she married in 2012, and their rescue dog Zane.
Along with Knight as Emmeline Pankhurst, the sell-out musical stars Naomi Katiyo as Sylvia Pankhurst and features hip-hop, funk and soul in a tale of political and familial strife that changed the lives of millions.
How did it feel to be on the Albert Hall stage knowing that the Suffragettes had been banned?
We performed the song March Women March from Sylvia in 2023 at the Olivier Awards, which I was lucky enough to win that year for portraying Emmeline Pankhurst, and to stand on that stage, knowing that in 1913 they had been turfed out because Emmeline incited everybody to rebellion against the government, you know, crack on, I say. If your government is wrong, morally wrong, ethically wrong, you should be allowed to protest. And Emmaline got those women protesting.
And to be back on that stage, I felt as though we claimed it back for those women who had their bodies put on the line, had them broken and died in some cases. We all know about Emily Wilding Davison who died under the King's horse. They said she was a nutter: she wasn't. She was trying to pin a rosette on that horse, as a form of advertising, but of course, she's a woman, so she must be insane. The force feeding was stomach churning and Black Friday where the women were beaten and sexually assaulted by the police, these incredible, brave women… And 100 years later, we take the vote for granted. We stood on that stage and roared and it was really special and significant to be where those women were once thrown out for something that we all take for granted today.
What is the most striking thing for you about Emmeline Pankhurst in terms of what she achieved?
There is so much to admire. Obviously she agitated. She pushed. She would not take no for an answer when the Liberal government said you're not getting the vote because you’re women. She wasn't having it and she defied what was the convention of the day of not only what a woman was supposed to be and the correct way to behave, but specifically middle class women. She upended all of it and led a movement that upended it. Emmeline, Sylvia, Christabel, Flora Drummond, The General, we have to salute them.
These women, led by Emmeline showed the ingenuity of a woman's mind. They had their publicity locked down. The whole idea of hiding a photographer in a cupboard at the Women's Social and Political Union's HQ in London, ready to leap out because the leaders knew, they were going to be arrested, so they waited for the cops to turn up and in that moment, out comes the photographer, click, and then they control the narrative. They get their picture in the newspapers, with a favorable headline. They were savvy. They knew, get arrested, get the headlines, get a day in court. Court is theatre. Theatre means everybody's going to write about it. The whole nation will know what we are about. Genius.
The Suffragettes were the first people in Britain to go on hunger strike. Which was why they were force fed, because the government didn't want these women to die in their prisons as it would be terrible PR for them. That inspired a legion of other protest groups and political parties to adopt the hunger strike as a form of protest. They were saying we are political prisoners and you're treating us as common criminals. We're not having it. So they refuse to eat and drink water. Genius.
But also, what was the cost for them? Emmeline started off as a woman who believed passionately in democracy. She and her late husband, Richard Pankhurst, came from a long line of activists and then as the movement picked up pace and intensity, she moved away from that democracy and became an autocrat, maybe a megalomaniac.
She threw out her own daughters. Got rid of Adela, sent her to Australia never to return, and broke ties with Sylvia because she was against the violence, the bombings and smashing of windows. And not only turned her back on her politically, but as her own child. She said, ‘I wish I could stop her from using the Pankhurst name’. She refused to meet her life partner and her own grandchild, because they weren't married, called her ‘a scarlet woman’. They never reconciled.
She was complicated. She was an absolute British hero and a beacon in British politics who led the way around the world for women's suffrage, encouraging Susan B Anthony and people like that in America. But my god, it's her way or the highway. And she didn't care who the hell you were. That makes her complex as hell. And brilliant to play.
Are you looking forward to performing in Scotland?
Yes, I can't even count the amount of times I’ve been to Scotland. I was there in June on tour. And my late dad, it was his favorite country. He thought it was unspeakably beautiful. He and mum would go there most years on coach journeys so he could sit and look out the window at it. My dad liked to walk a lot and he and mum said it was the most incredible experience. I’m bringing my mum and my bestie and I hope my husband James and dog Zane can come too.
Will you get any time to explore?
For sure. Yes, because it's so incredible. The history and everything. I've got friends who live in The Borders so I'm hoping to hire a car and see them. And then just get about Edinburgh. Usually I never get to do that. You visit places, perform, leave.
If you like history, check out David Olusoga’s latest A House Through Time, about an Edinburgh home on Calton Hill, then enjoy the views.
I will be doing that because I can't think of anything I'd love more - I’m a total history geek.
How do you manage your recording and live shows alongside musicals?
The roles just keep being offered and I am lucky enough that I can say, I want to pursue this which is a fabulous position to be in in theatre. It's begun to open doors for me in the world of film and hopefully TV.
I'm in a film, coming out in November, called Drummer Boy, about two brothers who end up on opposite sides of the American War for Independence [Directed by Ben and Joel David Smallbone, also starring Iain Glen].
I play an enslaved character and represent the entirety of the enslaved African-American community at that time. It's quite a responsibility, so I give it my best.
What can you tell us about the TV roles?
I'm crossing my fingers because that hasn't come up yet. But I absolutely believe TV will follow suit.
What have you taken from Sylvia back into your own life, given that it's about principles and fighting for what you believe in - how has that impacted you?
I think very much about the privileges that are afforded to me, as a successful woman who lives in the 21st century and has this career behind me and my own voice. And how I have this platform and can use my voice for good and to, I hope, spread inclusivity, diversity, joy, happiness, against the things that I don't stand for - bigotry, intolerance and ‘othering’ people.
I look at Sylvia and she was this young woman prepared to go up against societal norms, and her own mum, to say no, ‘this is what I stand for’. ‘I'm a privileged middle class woman, but I will get the rights of working women and men heard. And I will raise their voices by raising my own’. She sacrificed so much. She didn't have a home to go to in the end because her mum turfed her out. She never, ever stopped fighting for the minorities, the oppressed. She believed in that with her absolute core and kept on her path. She’s an example to us all, and in these days of political upheaval, I would very much like to think I'm following in the path Sylvia laid down for us.
What about the music in Sylvia? There’s hip hop, jazz, funk, what does that bring to the show?
I think it makes the story. It means it’s very fast paced because it's all to the beat and gives a sense of urgency and drama. Any time the music and beat stops is almost like a mic drop moment. It's really cool that we are always speaking in rhythm or singing it.
And the fact that it is R&B, soul, hip hop, funk, garage in some cases, that kind of sound, roots it very much in the 21st century and helps us to understand that this is a 100-year-old story but it's also a story of today.
I think the music evokes what is going on right now. And I'm hoping people will come away thinking that this is an Edwardian history lesson, but it actually is social commentary about right now.
Why do you keep your Olivier Award next to your TV?
Because it's the next aspiration for me. I look at the TV, I look at the award. So many brilliant British actors had their grounding in theatre and that honed their skills and made them utterly brilliant actors so when I see them on TV or in films I think ‘yeah, it all started in theatre’. Hopefully one day that's going to be me. That's why my mini Larry sits right there.
What other ambitions do you have?
I haven't got a Grammy yet and I intend to snatch that Tony, 100% working towards that. That's in terms of my actual career.
And in life?
In life I would like to continue, I hope, to be like Sylvia, a champion for the people in society who are the most marginalised. People who are the same colour as me.
I think of Professor Jason Arday, [Cambridge professor at the centre of a plagiarism row who was found dead in August] and how horrendous that situation was. And how, no matter what you might think of an individual, it is not acceptable to pursue someone like that so vigorously that they feel as though they've got no way out.
I'm a massive, massive ally to the LGBTQ+ community, and I'll stand with them. I won't be their voice because they all have voices. I will help to amplify their voices. That's a really important distinction to make.
And the causes of women. Now I'm in my 50s I see how women disappear. When you're young, all your value is on your looks and there is enormous pressure put on women then the minute they get middle-aged and the menopause kicks in, instead of thinking these are women with wisdom that has come with age, and stature, it’s like they fade to grey. I see that and I'm in that age group now so I make sure I am as colorful as possible to show that we women have value, we are absolutely the pillars of society, not just crumbling stones in the background.
I hope when people hear me perform they can hear my heart, as well as being what I believe I was put on earth to be as one of life's joy givers, I hope they can also hear that equality is something I believe in.
How did growing up in Wolverhampton shape you?
Absolutely every corner of my life I owe to the way I was raised, and the fact that I was raised in Wolverhampton.
Growing up in a very musical family, music was all around me.
But growing up in Wolverhampton, as opposed to London, I think was an advantage because it meant that I didn't belong to a clique or tribe. I heard music across the board, from Bowie to Prince, my absolute idol, to Shalamar and New Romantics like Duran, Duran. I heard everything all at the same time. So music was very much a feeling and wasn't delineated into genres. It was all one thing and either something that spoke to me or didn't. And I took that with me into my own musical endeavors. I’m still ‘everything’. I found joy in all of it.
Do you have a favourite song from Sylvia?
I love singing Suffragitsu because it’s funky as hell, very Prince adjacent, but a song about women learning jujitsu? In 1910? To make sure that no one could physically attack them again without them being able to fight back and hold their own. Edwardian women. Come on! When you see that, it’s breathtaking.
What would you say to the five-year-old Beverley Knight who loved acting and singing?
I would tell that five year old ‘hold on to that joy. It's gonna sustain you for the rest of your life.’ And so far so good!
Sylvia, starring Beverley Knight as Emmeline Pankhurst and Naomi Katiyo as Sylvia Pankhurst, her daughter, will be at the Festival Theatre Edinburgh, Tuesday 13 to Saturday 17 October. sylviamusicaluk.com, https://www.capitaltheatres.com/shows/sylvia/ as part of a tour that culminates at the Royal Albert Hall from 13 to 15 November 2026.
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