1854: Sir Roger Tichborne, heir to the ninth-largest estate in England, dies in a shipwreck off the coast of South America.
1898: Sir Roger dies again, this time begging on the streets of London.
Are they the same man? Was Sir Roger merely lost at sea and returned to England to claim what was rightfully his? Or did an impostor stage an elaborate hoax spanning decades and continents in a brazen attempt to claim Sir Roger's name and riches?
I am Tichborne tells the astonishing true story of the Tichborne Claimant. From a butcher's shop in Wagga Wagga to the highest court in England, from the mansions of the landed gentry to the music halls filled with the working class, this is a story of Victorian-era fake news that asks timely questions about the nature of identity and who gets to join the ruling elite.
For over 150 years, people have asked whether he was lord or fraud. Now we find out by asking him. Both of him.
A new play for the stage by David Sharpe.