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Beyond “Bridgerton”: Adjoa Andoh speaks at WashU

Isabella Diaz-Mira | Junior Photo Editor
“When you see me play Lady Danbury, that’s 40 years of professional acting life. That’s 61 years of life life. That’s three kids, aging parents, a dog, a grandson, Leeds United Football Club, being a punk rocker … Lady Danbury is just the tip of that iceberg,” Adjoa Andoh said on Oct. 11 during an event organized by the Congress of the South 40 (CS40).
Though the British actress is currently best known for her role as Lady Danbury, a self-assured and quick-witted widow, in the exceedingly popular Netflix series “Bridgerton,” her career has been one of immense accomplishment. From directing and starring in “Richard II” at the Globe Theatre, playing Francine Jones in “Doctor Who,” appearing in the film “Invictus,” and recording radio shows and audiobook narration, Andoh has done it all.
Sophomore Kemberly Nertulus, CS40’s director of Social Events and Recreation and moderator of the event, expressed her excitement for getting the privilege to speak with Andoh. When asked why Andoh was chosen for the event, Nertulus said, “There hasn’t been a person of color that CS40 brought [to speak] within six years … as a person of color myself, I felt like my job was to get someone who represented the underrepresented students here on campus … I wanted to bring someone that people were very enthusiastic about.”
And enthusiastic they were. As Andoh walked across the stage in Graham Chapel, she was met with uproarious applause. It was a welcome fit for a queen (or, well, a lady).
As the moderated talk began, Andoh discussed her upbringing, the start of her acting career, and the pressure she felt from her African father.
“Obviously, I’m supposed to be a lawyer, a doctor, or, if I really like, I can be an accountant,” Andoh said.
Though she was supposed to go to the University of Cambridge to study law, she instead “had a nervous breakdown.” After retaking her exams, she decided that she was “done with school,” and she moved in with her boyfriend while working at a bank. Eventually, after being “bored beyond belief,” she spent two years pursuing a law degree before leaving and joining a drama group.
After getting her first theater job, she described feeling as though she had come home.
“I spent my childhood dressing up, pretending to be other people. I used to write little plays,” Andoh said.
However, becoming an actor never seemed like a feasible option.
“I grew up with cows and sheep. So I can milk cows by hand if needed. But it was not a world where anybody thought you could be an actor … You may as well have said you can swim to the moon … When I got to London and I suddenly found I could do this acting thing, I was beyond thrilled. It was amazing. It was like you’d opened the back of the wardrobe and there was Narnia and it was all for me,” she said.
Years later, Andoh directed an all-women-of-color production of “Richard II” at the Globe Theatre in London. She discussed how the play centers around what it means to be a part of England and about “who has the right to be a part of this island nation.”
However, she wanted to put her own unique spin on the Shakespearean play. She decided to cast and hire only individuals who were from places that Britain went to to gather “raw materials, be they human, animal, or mineral, which fueled the industrial revolution … and made Britain great.” However, Andoh said she had to make sure to stick with the original text and that she put on a show that was entertaining yet meaningful. “If you don’t get those basics right,” she said, “then just go park your big ideas somewhere else.”
Later during the event, Andoh discussed the cultural division and strife that surrounds today’s society. She centered this section around an interaction she recently had with a fellow patron in a New York City bar.

Isabella Diaz-Mira | Junior Photo Editor
“Politically, we were properly as far away as we could be, but actually, at the human level, we were as close as we were sat next to each other, in terms of caring for our families, helping out our neighbors, all those simple human things,” Andoh said.
When their conversation made its way to politics, Andoh described them both trying to “talk about how we feel, as opposed to what the noise is around us.” Andoh advised the audience to be “a bit less shouty.”
Ending the event with a Q&A portion, Adjoa Andoh described a memorable moment she had while filming a garden party scene for the fourth season of “Bridgerton” the week prior where it was pouring rain.
“If you watch it in the future,” she chuckled, “the rain was horizontal. So we’re all in the full gear, I’ve been in hair and makeup for three hours before we even start[ed] shooting … and we’re all going, ‘I think it’s clearing up over there!’ … No, we don’t know [that], we just wanted it to, because we’ve been stuck in the rain for hours … so check out the garden party scenes, and look for the fake sunshine!”