‘Emmeline Pankhurst is a gift of a role’ says Beverley Knight

Singer Beverley Knight said she hoped audiences watching her latest musical would leave feeling “empowered” and with the belief that their voices can make a difference.

Sylvia the Musical tells the story of suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst and the family rift caused by the fight for women’s voting rights.

The Wolverhampton artist, who plays Sylvia’s mother and suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst at the Birmingham Hippodrome said she was a “history nerd” and described the part as a “gift of a role”.

“It’s an absolutely killer story, and the best thing is it’s true,” she said.

“I want everyone bouncing out of there because it’s a joyful musical, even though there’s some absolutely heartbreaking moments in it.”

The soul singer, known for hits including Shoulda Woulda Coulda and Get Up, told BBC Radio WM the musical was telling a “huge part of British history” from 1903, all the way to 1928.

“So most people know who Emmeline Pankhurst was, leader of the suffragettes, she was determined to get women the vote,” she explained.

“But she came up against her middle daughter Sylvia, who not only wanted to get wealthy property owning women the vote, which was the case with men in the country, [you] had to be rich and male to vote, she wanted everybody to be able to vote.

“But Emmeline was focused on just the women and that put her on a collision course with her daughter and both of them were on a collision course with the government.”

Knight added the show, which also features Naomi Katiyo as Sylvia Pankhurst, was “musically up my street” and was being called a “hip-hop musical” because it included elements of R&B, funk, soul, garage, gospel and house.

“The engine of the show is the music,” she said. The whole thing is either spoken or rapped or sung. Of course, I’m doing mostly singing because I ain’t rapping anything.”

The former Highfields School pupil explained the story also went beyond the Pankhurst family, with some people who attended the show likely to have relatives who were involved in the suffragette movement.

“It’s not just the story of the Pankhursts, there are going to be loads of people who will come to this show who will be like… my grandma or my great-grandma, she was involved in the suffragette movement.

“I want everybody to leave like, let’s go, oh my god, that feeling of I can effect change, I can use my voice and effect change. I feel empowered.”

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