First ever season
of the stage play
“Napoleon: Murder
of an Emperor”

The premier of this new play examining the circumstances surrounding the suspicious death of Napoleon Bonaparte on St. Helena has completed a most successful run in a most appropriate venue, The Briars Historic Homestead in Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia, owned since the mid 1800’s by Alexander Balcombe, born on St. Helena and the youngest of the Balcombe children.

Today the largely-restored house is a National Heritage possession, sitting on some 200 acres of parklands and widely used for weddings, conventions, jazz festivals, as well as activities such as Bush Walks, Nature lessons for schools, and Astronomy classes. It is most well-known for its classic Edwardian Room, a former ballroom now frequently used as a theatre for musical recitals & theatrical presentations.

The play, “Napoleon: Murder of an Emperor”, was originally written as a drawcard for visitors to view the historic property and its Napoleonic connections but, as the subject was researched and the fascination for Napoleon grew, it became a serious endeavour to find out what really killed an Emperor. The result is a 2 ½ hour play where four St. Helena characters (Marchand, Betsy Balcombe, General Gourgaud, Antommarchi) tell of their experiences & observations of the circumstances surrounding Napoleon’s prolonged illness and tragic death, with two from modern times contributing 20th & 21st century scientific evidence, Dame Mabel Brookes, Dr. Sten Forshufvud, and Ben Weider, whose work in toxicology helped uncover an ingenious method of murder.

To the delight of everybody the play performed to mostly full Houses with the author, approached by a French company in Melbourne, currently negotiating to have the script translated for presentation in Victoria’s capital city and overseas.