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A dramatised walking tour: The East India Company. Architects of Empire.
June 7 @ 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
A London Lark Rising: a play by Anu Kumar Lazarus, a walking tour by Lisa Honan.
A London Lark Rising is a dramatised walking theatre experience. This immersive walking tour tells the history of the East India Company in the City streets where events happened. It will be guided by City of London guide and former Governor of St Helena, Lisa Honan CBE, and includes dramatised scenes performed by actors in costumes, written by playwright, Anu Kumar, which bring the tour to life. The City and in particular, the Eastern part, forms the backdrop. As the audience walks from one spot to the next, the scenes move from London to India, and back, and are accompanied by Indian musicians. This is a unique experience in a unique part of the Square Mile.
Starting location: The show starts opposite PURE on Philpot Lane. Head towards Brabant Court EC3.
Ending location: Devonshire Square not far from Liverpool St Station.
About The East India Company
The East India Company began in trade and ended in Empire. On this dramatised walking tour you’ll see where the Elizabethan founders of the Company began their rise to fame, infamy, and fortune…..where they worshipped and are buried; where they lived, where they worked, and their lifestyle. We’ll hear how they changed from high-risk-high-reward merchant adventurers, to ruthless businessmen. How as a private company, the EIC ruled over 300 million people in India. We’ll discover how the steps towards Britain’s Empire began with the Company, and continued until the Company closed and was nationalised into the British state covering a period of 270 years. The battles it fought – some of them – with its private army under leaders such as Robert Clive. And there’s the file past of its people, its employees : writers, soldiers, drug smugglers, embezzlers, entrepreneurs, imperialists. The East India Company wasn’t just the largest and most powerful multinational corporation in the world – it was history’s fulcrum.