Afternoon theatre with Portugal’s ex-King
‘Royal Tea’ is to be staged on three consecutive Saturday afternoons at Quinta das Borboletas in Areeiro, Almancil. The restaurant is hosting the audience to a traditional English tea while watching a new and comic entertainment.
Written in rhyme by Carolyn Kain and performed by the Random Players, it tells the story of King Manuel II, his hurried departure from Portugal to England and his affair with a tawdry French actress.
The play is set in the tearoom of Selfridges Department Store in London where the well-to-do clients dance to an orchestra playing popular music of the 1910s. Harry Selfridge welcomes his distinguished guests, encountering and seducing super-stars of the time, Anna Pavlova and Isadora Duncan.
Manuel and his relation, the British Queen Mary of Teck, argue over who the young man should marry, but when Mr Selfridge makes a move on the ex-king’s glamorous actress, the action on the stage becomes increasingly heated. There is the further complication of the ownership of the famous Cambridge Emeralds, adding more tension to a story all of which is based on fact.
Several romantic relationships and Harry’s support of the suffragettes feature in a play that is filled with dancing, singing and a great deal of double entendré.
Shows begin at 3pm on Saturdays, January 18 and 25 and February 1.
Tickets costing €15 include the show, a traditional English tea and a glass of ‘bubbly’.
Profits in aid of Algarve Families in Need registered charity.
Pre-booking essential with Quinta das Borboletas – 963 812 845
