“Estelle” is a working class English woman, whose life began in the shadow of WWII. Her development parallels the reconstruction of British society and all it promised in that moment.
America was and is Britain’s closet ally. America’s consitution was forged in the incandescence of the Magna Carta. Our society’s share a familial bond.
The unsophisticated and uneducated “Estelle” shares her conundrums and basic decency with us, in her efforts to understand a world infinitely more complex than her education prepared her for. In this she is similar to voices in America. While she voted Brexit, she is aware, there is much she does not comprehend. However “Estelle” is street smart and soulful. She recognizes fairness and bad behavior.
She is the perfect foil, to make observations about society at the crossroads, reeling from global forces of seismic change. Her cultural differences set her apart from us, rendering her less threatening. Her humorous parsing of current events invades & warms our hearts; allowing us to cross the borders of our own defense mechanisms, to join her in her confusion. She may be distasteful to some, yet she is provacatively charming. Like Tony Soprano, we like her. We relate to her humanity.
She has her finger on the pulse, as only an observer, from a different culture, looking in, from the outside, can. The “Tea with Estelle” series is perfectly timed for an American audience, struggling with its relationship to jobs disappearing, student debt, immigration, medical and housing bankruptcy, deregulation, terror from without and within, politics, moral and ethical issues against the incursion of AI –artificial intelligence.
Estelle is the perfect character to reflect the socially tense times we live in. A time where the peace keeping mechanisms, set in place post WWII, are unravelling specifically under US & UK leadership. She embodies and bears witness to right left divide. She is the bridge to the EU which is trying to uphold democratic ideals, forging a path independent of the United States.