It was impossible to resist. A story with a backdrop of the court of Queen Victoria, the music halls of Drury Lane, an international chase through the high societies of Paris, Berlin and St Petersburg, the ancient kingdom of the Punjab, and the mountain of light - the Koh-i-noor diamond.

For me it all began as contemplation on a portrait - the portrait of the Maharajah Dalip Singh; a dignified, injured soul caught in another time and place. I prepared a soliloquy which was subsequently expanded for the Maj Monologues competition in Perth where the entry was a finalist.

Initially I was to write the libretto. I was hard at work preparing complicated mind-maps of what was to happen to whom and how it would all link thematically when the phone rang and my friend Ziggy came rushing down the line at me. She had been mulling over some lyrics I had prepared in which Dalip recalls a life of former glory. “Got him!”, she gloated, “see you tomorrow”. This was the cue for me to set aside my intricate doodlings. I knew in that instant that the emotional tone of our show had been born. Ziggy has highly developed instincts.

Hal joined us as our book writer in 2004. To our delight and amazement he quickly pared back the vast and amazing story into an uncomplicated and straight-forward narrative. By 2006 we had our first draft of the libretto. In 2007 we co-opted a cast of friends to sing through excerpts of the score - the big ballads, duets and trios, and a pair of choruses. While the bulk of the show looked fine on paper, the closing took some time to finalize. Hal knew where the story should end and Ziggy had a clear idea of the sweep of the Finale - but I was puzzled by the subject of the Finale lyrics. In my eyes the show seemed to circle the theme of possession - who possesses what or whom? for how long? under what terms? what happens when possession becomes dispossession? everyone wants to possess the Koh-i-noor, or does the Koh-i-noor want to posses them? Finally we worked it out, and 10 months on we find ourselves ready to witness the first performance in what must be the ideal venue for a piece of this nature, an original 19th century music hall. You couldnʼt ask for a more authentic way to be in another time and another place.

Jackson B Sutcliffe

Libretto disclaimer:

Many of the events in the life of Dalip Singh are a matter of history and public record. However, certain characters, incidents, locations and dialogue in The Last Maharajah have been fictionalized or invented for purposes of dramatization.

As respects such characters, incidents, and locations, any similarity to the name, character or history of any person, or actual incident is entirely coincidental and unintentional.