Julian Machin, a longtime friend of actress Prunella Scales, recalls their first meeting in 1979 when Scales, famed for her role as Sybil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers, dramatically stubbed out a cigarette at a tea lady's request. Over the next 40 years, Machin worked as her stage manager on nearly 400 performances of her one-woman show An Evening with Queen Victoria.
Scales was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2013, though her husband Timothy West had noticed subtle changes as early as 2001. Despite her condition, she continued working, and in 2022 Machin conceived of a final performance: a revived version of the Queen Victoria play, adapted so that Scales would record the elderly Victoria while other actresses played younger versions.
In November 2022, at age 91, Scales recorded her part at home over two days, with Machin directing and West listening anxiously next door. Her performance was so vivid that her death scene—in which Victoria audibly passes away—frightened Machin with its realism. West later wrote that hearing her read again after several years was a real tonic.
The resulting play, renamed Queen to avoid confusion with a Freddie Mercury tribute, premiered at the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe and later at the Tabard Studio Theatre in Chiswick. Scales attended but declined a bow, insisting it was the actors' stage. She later called the experience 'magic.' The production received four- and five-star reviews, serving as the enduring tribute West had hoped for.
Scales's condition has since progressed; by October 2024 she could only manage occasional interviews with assistance. Yet her final recorded performance stands as a testament to her talent and resilience.
