I Am Tichborne
About the Play

Two men… or the same man? An unbelievable true story

Roger and the Claimant tell their own stories — and the audience decides who's who.

The Play

A famous contest of identity, brought to the stage

In 1854, Sir Roger Tichborne, Baronet and heir to the ninth-largest fortune in England, is lost in a shipwreck off the coast of South America.

Back home, his grieving mother never gives up hope of finding him alive. She sends messages out around the world, desperately seeking her lost son.

Eleven years later, she gets a response from a surprising location. Sir Roger is alive, living and working as a butcher in Wagga Wagga. He agrees to return home to claim his inheritance.

But is this claimant really Sir Roger? He doesn't look much like him. He's vague on many details of his past life. In fact, he's an enormous brute of a man. Could he really be Roger, the gentle, effete member of the upper class?

His mother says, unequivocally… yes.

And so starts a long and spiteful battle for the Tichborne estate, one which is both a question of identity but also a test of the class system of Victorian England. Who says a butcher from Wagga Wagga can't be an Earl?

Is he lord or fraud? I am Tichborne answers the question by putting both Roger and the Claimant on stage to tell their stories and work out who's who.

Character Breakdown

Who's who?

Roger Tichborne, played by Cooper Dawson
Lord

Roger Tichborne

Slight, fey, French-accented. Heir to the Tichborne baronetcy, lost at sea in 1854.

The Claimant, played by Lajos Hamers
Fraud?

The Claimant

Large, charming, and cunning, with a cockney/Australian hybrid accent. Says he is Roger.

And a number of additional actors (suggested three, but could be more) to take on the many supporting roles, which include:

The Dowager Lady Henriette Felicitie Tichborne — Roger's mother.
Kattie Katherine Doughty, later Lady Katherine Radcliffe — Roger's cousin and lover.
Mary Ann Mary Ann Castro, née Bryant — the Claimant's wife.
Bogle Mr Andrew Bogle — elderly former servant of Roger's uncle.
Radcliffe Sir Percival Radcliffe — husband of Kattie.
Hawkins Mr Henry Hawkins — legal prosecutor.
Little Tich Stage name of Mr Henry Relph — diminutive music hall performer whose name derives from the Tichborne Claimant.
Supporter & Sceptic Comment on proceedings throughout and lead the audience vote at the play's climax.
Read the true story Read a sample of the script