Anna Leonowens and her son arrive in Bangkok

Anna Leonowens, an attractive English widow, arrives in Bangkok with her son Louis. She has been employed by The King of Siam to teach English and other Western ideas and philosophies to members of the Royal Family, including the King’s many wives and many more children. Escorted ashore by the King’s Prime Minister, The Kralahome, Anna is at first unsure that she and Louis have made the right decision by coming to Siam.

A gift from the King of Burma

In the King’s court, attempts toward implementing Western values clash with old-fashioned customs and traditions. Even as the King is proclaiming his belief in the ideals of the West, he accepts a gift from the King of Burma – a peace offering, a slave. The King admires the young girl, Tuptim, not suspecting her lack of interest in him nor the fact that her true love is Lun Tha, the young Burmese who escorted her to Bangkok.

Anna meets the King and the Royal Children

Anna is finally presented to The King, and her doubts turn to indignant anger when it seems that His Majesty has a cavalier way of forgetting issues that do not interest him – such as Anna’s salary, her days off and the issue of a brick house that was supposed to be built for her adjacent to the Royal palace. But, on the verge of storming out, Anna is coaxed into meeting the Royal Children. She is introduced to the King’s first wife, Lady Thiang, and in turn to the King’s children. That settles it. She stays to teach.

Anna – the Teacher

In the classroom Anna instructs the Royal Children, the King’s wives and sometimes the King himself. They learn of a great outside world where there exists such strange unheard of wonders as snow, ice and freedom of the individual.

News of a dinner guest

When the King learns that a British diplomat, Sir Edward Ramsay, is on his way from Singapore to Bangkok, ostensibly to pay his compliments to the King but also to assess the monarch’s hold on his own throne, Anna cleverly finds a way to help the King convince Sir Edward that he is a sophisticated and commanding leader. Anna suggests that the King host a dinner for Sir Edward in the European style, with his wives dressed in the latest European fashion.

The King is delighted with the thought of this forthcoming dinner, and recognising the friendship that is growing between himself and the equally strong-willed “Mrs Anna”, he now promises Anna that she will get her brick house, according to their agreement.

The Dinner

The dinner proves a great success, despite the King’s discomfort and anger during Tuptim’s presentation of “The Small House of Uncle Thomas”, in which Harriet Beecher Stowe’s passionate denunciation of bigotry in America has been transformed into a Siamese ballet. Nevertheless, the troubled mood of the moment is quickly forgotten in the warm and encouraging endorsement of his regime which the King receives from Sir Edward.

Shall We Dance?

The plan has worked. Alone in the ballroom now, congratulating each other on the evening and reliving its finest moments, Anna and the King bask in their friendship. He recalls, from earlier in the evening, the strange occidental custom of a man dancing with his arm around a woman’s waist. The King persuades Anna to teach him the English dance and it becomes apparent, as they dance the polka, that there exists a strong attraction between them.

Tuptin and Lun Tha

The mood is shattered by the startling news that Tuptim and Lun Tha have escaped from the Royal palace together. They are discovered by the King’s secret police: Lun Tha is killed, and Tuptim is captured and returned to the Palace. Outraged and his pride wounded, the King is prepared to punish her himself. His arm is raised, the whip in his hand, ready to lash punishment across Tuptim’s back, when Anna intervenes. Defiantly, she tells him that this regression to savagery and barbarism undermines all that he has strived for since she came to Siam. The King realises that Anna is right, but with that realisation his power as an absolute monarch is also gone and putting down the whip, the king flees from the room a broken man, a confused and unsteady leader.

A letter from the King

Anna realises that she has so humiliated the King that she can no longer remain in Siam. Her belongings are packed and placed aboard a ship. As she is about to embark, she receives a note from the King who is dying. The note expresses his gratitude for all that she has done for him. Tearfully Anna returns to the Palace to see the King.

The beginning of the end

Lying near death, the King is surrounded by his wives and his children. When they see Anna, the children embrace her and beg her not to leave them. Anna is deeply moved and realises how much she loves them and how much they need her. Dying, the King directs Anna to take notes from Chululongkorn, the new King. The Prince, who has learned his lessons well from Anna, regally announces that henceforth there will be no servile bowing and scraping before him. As the King dies, Anna, the Kralahome, the wives and children sink to the floor in a low curtsey and bow, in final obeisance to the dead king, and with respect for the new one.
The King of Siam: Philip May
Anna Leonowens: Joy Plowes
Tuptim: Hayley Davies
Lun Tha: Stephen Glenn
Lady Thiang: Allison Smith
Prince Chulalongkorn: David Simmons
Louis Leonowens: Bruce Pilkington
Captain Orton: Brian Parkinson
Kralahome: Richard Leigh
Phra Alack: Simon Phillips
Sir Edward Ramsay: Ken Patterson

Amazons
Sarah Pilkington
Sharon Kellie

Wives
Angela Bradshaw
Sharon Morris
Rebecca Denney
Sarah Benn
Dorothy Ward
Susan O’Brien
Jill Twist
Lorraine Bradshaw

Priests
Brian Robinson
Brian Johnson
Frank Gartside
Keith Parker

Children
Charlotte Stobbs
Katie Baron
Rhiannon Clarke
Ellie Bradshaw
Josh Downes
Ria Fullerton
Amy Sharples
Bethany Fletcher
Holly Anderton
Benn Whipp
Rebecca Wignall
Adam Bradshaw
Christopher Heyes
Maya Jones
Edward Gilbertson
Rachel Edwards
Laurel Fairhurst
Marie-Claire Gilbertson
Jacki Mann
Caitlin Keller
Imogen Nicholson-Leigh
Meghan Critchley
Joseph Gilbertson
Bethany Tomlin
Charlotte Edwards
Francesca Davis
Gemma Wignall

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