Maud Sulter: Service to Empire

In a unique live broadcast, National Galleries Scotland presents the first abridged rehearsed reading from the play by Maud Sulter, Service to Empire. Directed and abridged by Adura Onashile and co-curated with Mother Tongue. The reading will be followed by a live Q&A.

Maud Sulter: Service to Empire, Monday 28th November, 6pm to 7.30pm, Online, Free

Best known as an artist and poet, Maud Sulter wrote and self-published Service to Empire in 2002. In it she reimagines the relationship between the parents of Ghana’s former President Jerry Rawlings (held office 1979-2002) whose father was a Scot. Exploring long-lasting colonial legacies across two continents, Sulter considered her play provides ‘an incisive observation of the explosive reverberations’ of their affair.

Since the play was written 20 years ago, it has never been performed. This reading is long overdue bringing to light the work of this internationally renowned artist.

Developed with Mother Tongue with Art Fund support and supported by Creative Scotland.  

Maud Sulter, Service to Empire, 2002 © The Estate of Maud Sulter, 2022. Abridged and Directed by Adura Onashile (2022). With kind permission of the Estate of Maud Sulter.

This is one of our ‘Attend’ events this autumn! (‘Attend’ events mean you can listen or look in and enjoy the event with no pressure to join in, though there will likely be opportunities to chat too! ‘Take Part’ events involve a bit more activity or participation on your part, you are of course still welcome to do so as little or as much as you would like to.)

Booking

The event is free and open to all. To attend, please book below and we will share an email invitation with you.  If you would like to make a donation to Glasgow Women’s Library, you can do so here.

Accessibility

This session takes place via an online video call link. If you would like to attend, please book below and we will share an email invitation along with simple and straight forward instructions on how this will work. If you have any concerns about how this will work for you, please do get in touch and we’ll do all we can to support you in joining the session.

An automated live transcript using Otter.ai is available during this event.