NAPOLEON AND THE AUSTRALIAN CONNECTION
FROM ROSES TO POISON
A new play by Marijke Eysbertse
From Roses to Poison reveals the amazing link between Australia’s early colonial past and the Emperor Napoleon. After his defeat at Waterloo, he was exiled on St.Helena, where he befriended the British Balcombe family, whilst staying at their house The Briars. This unlikely friendship would trigger events that would lead Alexander Balcombe, who as a toddler used to sit on Napoleon’s lap, to settle at The Briars in Mt.Martha in far away Australia, in 1846.
Napoleon meeting Jane and Betsy at The Briars on St.Helena
(image from The Briars Park collection)
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As a volunteer guide in the Napoleonic Museum of The Briars Park, playwright Marijke Eysbertse found a wealth of inspiration for her script. Marijke delighted in showing visitors fascinating historical objects from the collection including the guitar Napoleon gave to Betsy Balcombe and the table he sat at whilst dictating his memoirs in the pavilion of The Briars on St.Helena.
From Roses to Poison was staged in the theatre room of The Briars homestead in Mt.Martha as part of the inaugural Mornington Peninsula Festival of Art and Ideas in May 2009. The play was produced by Nomad Players, a much-loved theatre company on the Mornington Peninsula, who have staged many productions at The Briars.
Michael Bula, director of the Melbourne French Theatre Company since 1977, attended a performance at The Briars. The MFT is currently in the process of having the script of From Roses to Poison translated into French.
f.l.t.r. Albine de Montholon, George Carstairs and Betsy Balcombe
(picture by Ray Reid)
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Amongst the audience at one of the shows were two direct descendants of William Balcombe: Michael a’Beckett and Di Cohen-Balcombe. They were quite moved by the way their famous ancestors were portrayed on stage.
From Roses to Poison, filled with historical facts, dangerous liaisons and suspicious deaths, had the theatre goers in stitches and on the edges of their chairs.
Napoleon once said: Ma vie est comme une piece de theatre – My life is like a play.
For information regarding The Briars Park and the Napoleonic Collection, please visit their website: