The Marvellous Adventures of Mary Seacole returns to Rosemary Branch Theatre

The Marvellous Adventures of Mary Seacole returns to the stage with a story shaped by movement, refusal, and self-belief.

Mary Seacole

Mary Seacole lived a life defined by action. Born in Kingston in 1805, she grew up surrounded by care rather than comfort. Her mother healed soldiers using herbal knowledge rooted in Caribbean traditions, and Seacole learned by watching, then doing. As a young woman, she travelled alone across the Caribbean, Panama, and Central America, treating outbreaks of cholera and yellow fever long before she reached Britain. Travel was not a privilege for her. It was survival and learning combined. When the Crimean War began, Seacole saw suffering she knew how to treat. She asked to join official nursing missions and was turned away repeatedly. She did not wait for permission. She paid her own way to the war zone and built the British Hotel near the battlefield, part shelter, part clinic, part home. She treated wounds under fire, cooked for soldiers, moved through camps on horseback, and earned trust through presence rather than rank. After the war, she returned to Britain nearly forgotten and financially ruined. Writing her autobiography became an act of survival and self-record. Her story remains one of skill ignored, care dismissed, and persistence that refuses to disappear.

Rosemary Branch Theatre

The Rosemary Branch Theatre offers a setting that mirrors Seacole’s story. It is small, close, and unpolished in the best way. Set above a local pub, it welcomes people coming for drinks, conversation, or an evening of theatre without distance. The space encourages listening. There is no room to hide behind spectacle. Stories are carried by voice, breath, and attention. This makes it an ideal home for a one-woman show built on memory and lived experience.

Daniella Pollendine

Mary Seacole is performed by Daniella Pollendine, who steps into a role first created by Cleo Sylvestre. Sylvestre’s original performance helped return Seacole to public consciousness at a time when her name was still absent from many histories. Pollendine continues that lineage with care rather than imitation. She has spoken about the honour of following in Sylvestre’s footsteps, someone personally close to her.

“It has been an honour and a joy to showcase such a remarkable story and to follow in the footsteps of Cleo Sylvestre, someone very dear to me.”

Her performance is grounded in voice and movement, holding Seacole as a woman who acted first and explained later. You are not asked to admire from a distance. You are asked to listen.

The show plays at the Rosemary Branch Theatre on Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 February 2026 as part of the Gather Together Storytelling Festival.
Evening performances begin at 7.30pm.
Running time is one hour.
Tickets are £14, with concessions available.

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