Here’s the first extract from The Steampunk Opium Wars which debuted at the National Maritime Museum on Thursday.
The story so far …
The East India Company has been growing mass-produced opium in Bengal and swamping China with the narcotic, turning an aristocratic vice into a mass addiction. The Emperor calls in Commissioner Lin Zexu to enforce the ban on opium and stop the British drug smuggling operation.
Song: “Lin Zexu Just Says No!”
With Hugo Trebels, Louise Whittle, Anna Chen, John Crow, Paul Anderson. Music from Charles Shaar Murray and Marc Jefferies. Video footage by Jeff Willis — additional material by Oliver Shykles. Lin Zexu portrait by Sukey Parnell. Show still by Jan Jefferies. Edited by Anna Chen.
The Steampunk Opium Wars pages:
The Steampunk Opium Wars Home Page
Afterview
The Company: who we are and how to find us.
Gallery: debut performance at the National Maritime Museum.
VIDEO: Lin Zexu Just Says No!
VIDEO: Sir Jardine-Matheson “The Case for Free Trade”
VIDEO: Lord Palmerston declares war on China
VIDEO: Anna Chen sings Anna May Wong Must Die!
VIDEO: Britannia sings “Money”
VIDEO: Anna Chen sings The Camellia & the Poppy
What they said …