The Beating Heart of ‘Bridgerton’
Written by Edith Manfred. Photographed by Edith Manfred.
The cultural phenomenon that is Netflix’s “Bridgerton” came to SCAD Atlanta to celebrate the opening night of SCAD TV Fest. The Outstanding Performance in a Series Award was presented to actresses Golda Rosheuvel and Adjoa Andoh before a screening of the first episode of season four.
During the conversation before the screening, both actresses spoke in depth about both their personal experiences with their characters, and the impact of Black storytelling in the television industry. Known to fans as the best friend duo of the Regency Era, Queen Charlotte and Lady Danbury’s characters have given voice to a real historical narrative of African royalty being sent to England during that time period to make familial connections in hopes of financial and societal power. Both Rosheuvel and Andoh related that they got to bring the depth of their lived experiences as Black artists to these characters, as both Queen Charlotte and Lady Danbury are women who aren’t from England, but had to adjust to the environment and find strength in themselves.
Heading into a fourth season, Rosheuvel wanted to develop her character of Queen Charlotte deeper, especially after the success of the prequel, “Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.” She shared that in season one, Queen Charlotte felt like a very two-dimensional character and Rosheuvel had to push to show her more vulnerable moments on screen. The joy of a long-running show is the ability to dive deeper into the history of the real Queen Charlotte, who in reality did have a tumultuous but beautiful relationship with King George, who is only observed briefly in the show. Rosheuvel spoke to the tension between the “public performance and private truth” that Queen Charlotte must have been balancing during her reign.
Both Andoh and Rosheuvel’s acting experience and passion reaches beyond film and television and onto the stage, as they have both done a variety of theater and on-screen acting. This versatility has given them both a deeper understanding of how the acting industry works and how to translate storytelling between mediums. Andoh views herself as being obsessed with storytelling and her key to staying in that creative flow is to maintain a playful attitude toward her work. A deep belief in her abilities likewise drives Rosheuvel who claims that “I couldn’t do anything else and that’s what drives me. That’s what makes me seek out the stuff I have, the stories I want to tell … the conversations I want to have about the world.”
In her remarks, Andoh spoke about the value of storytelling in bringing people together. “This is about communion. It’s about how we recognize each other through all the apparent differences,” she said. “We all have the same beating heart and the beating heart doesn’t care what you look like, what your income bracket is, what your class is, what your race is, what your religion is, who you love … we are all fellows together, and the art of storytelling is about telling the story of the fellows, in all their glorious, wonderful, brilliant variety.”
As Editor-in-Chief, Edith Manfred guides and supports a talented group of staff and contributors in pursuing their creative endeavors at District. At SCAD, Edith is a Photography major with a minor in Graphic Design, and is a part of the Cross Country and Track & Field teams. Outside of writing and taking photos for District, she can probably be found running long distances on the streets of Savannah, updating her blog, or talking about that new podcast she just listened to… again.
