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 Alan Elston is playing Sir Stamford Raffles in the UK Premiere of Raffles os Singapore at the Kenton from 12 - 20 November.
Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles - Man, Lover, Hero. What a fascinating man he was. When an actor takes on the role of a real life character, they have a great responsibility to accurately portray this person - especially when the character is a well known historical figure. The actor must invest a great deal of time to research the background to the story, in order to afford the character necessary depth. The combination of bringing my research, and the detail in the script together to bring this character to life has been fascinating.
His father, Captain Benjamin Raffles, was a slave-trader in the Caribbean, and Sir Stamford was born on a ship called Anne in 1781 off the Jamaican coast. Living in this environment had a profound affect on Raffles, and when he later became Lieutenant Governor of Java he began freeing slave some 20 years before slavery was abolished by law. He was just 14 when his father died, and to support himself he began working with the East India Company. Hungry for knowledge, he continued to self-educate himself, and was later renowned as a linguist and botanist, founding London Zoo. He also stopped the exploitation of the people under his administration by introducing land ownership and free trade. Initially a costly measure, but ultimately led to Singapore to become a hugely successful commercial centre in Southeast Asia.
Sir Stamford was a great man, and like all great men those around him often paid the price for his single-minded, idealistic vision that drove his success and eventual downfall. He was strong-willed but often perceived as arrogant. His ability to aggravate those around him, both personally and professionally, ultimately provoked plots to bring him down.
I hope to be able to bring out all these sides of his character with my performance!
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