Trivia / Mrs. Hawking

• Acting for Two: In part IV: Gilded Cages, the roles of Nathaniel and Reginald are meant to be double cast due to Uncanny Family Resemblance. These parts were played that way by actors Jeremiah O'Sullivan and Christian Krenek.
• All There in the Manual: It's never actually mentioned what Nathaniel does for a living, besides a brief self-identification as a "finance man" in Vivat Regina. It takes reading the Word of God on the official website to know that he works for his family's venture capital firm.
• Author Phobia: Mrs. Hawking's perception of her pregnancy and childbirth as a horrible experience draws from Roberts's own fears on the subject.
  • Similarly, Mrs. Hawking's fears of the physical decline of growing older beginning with Base Instruments.
• Creator Cameo: Jennifer Giorno, who serves as the costume designer for the series, played the Distinguished Matron, aka Queen Victoria, in the original productions of Fallen Women.
  • In the 2021 virtual version of Fallen Women staged for the Arisia festival, Roberts herself makes a few cameos as a passerby and maid to the Matron.
• Creator Couple: Phoebe Roberts and Bernie Gabin.
• Historical Domain Character: In Vivat Regina, the client, Mrs. Braun, is a historical figure of the Victorian period under a false name. Though Mrs. Hawking indicates she has figured out her identity and hints at it, it is never explicitly revealed in the text. According to Word of God on the official website, she is Princess Beatrice, the youngest daughter of Queen Victoria.
  • Fallen Women has several:
    • Mary Jane Kelly, the canonical fifth of the victims of Jack the Ripper.
    • Jack the Ripper himself, or at least the story’s speculated version of him.
    • And a special guest appearance by Queen Victoria I, after being mentioned several times across the series.
• Inspiration for the Work: The idea for the titular hero came from playwright Phoebe Roberts's fascination with lone wolf warrior-detective characters of the likes of Sherlock Holmes, Darkwing Duck, and Batman, but being frustrated that these characters were never women. That, combined with a longtime collaboration with actor Frances Kimpel who served as the physical model, lead the the creation of Mrs. Hawking.
• Mythology Gag: In part IV: Gilded Cages, Nathaniel refers to Sergeant Arthur Swann as "[Mary's] nice policeman." This was incorporated into the dialogue because Circe Rowan, the longtime actress playing Mary, always referred to the Arthur character as such.
• Production Nickname:
  • Cari Keebaugh, who plays Mrs. Hawking, wore a hairpiece to differentiate young Victoria from older Mrs. Hawking in Gilded Cages. She called it "Harriet."
  • The full-sized wig Keebaugh wears is “Juliet.”
• Word of Saint Paul: Frances Kimpel, the original actor to portray Mrs Hawking, has some very insightful things to say in an interview about the nature of her character.
  • Circe Rowan, who portrays Mary Stone, was interviewed here on the character in preparation for the Arisia 2016 performances.
• Word of God: Tons and tons of it, in the form of blog posts on the offical website.
• You Look Familiar: Roberts relies on a stable of actors (unofficially dubbed "the Hawking Players") who cycle through various roles in the different plays. It's most telling in Gentlemen Never Tell, in which virtually EVERY previous actor gets a totally new role. In the first production:
  • Naomi Ibatsitas, who plays colonial avenger Madam Malaika, is the dashing Rosaline Pembroke;
  • Arielle Kaplan, who plays villainous Mrs. Frost, is The Ingenue Annabel Broadwater;
  • Matthew Kamm, who plays Sergeant Arthur Swann, is Upper-Class Twit Theo Pryce;
  • Elizabeth Ross, who debuted in Fallen Women as Violet Strallan, is maid-companion Cora Little;
  • Pieter Wallace, whose most notable roles include blackmailer Lord Brockton and Jack the Ripper himself, is manservant Peter Morgan;
  • Sara Dion, whose main roles were Mary Jane Kelly in Fallen Women and a German secretary in Vivat Regina, is the stern Emmeline Broadwater;
  • And Andrew Prentice, who often plays villainous roles (including Lord Seacourse in Base Instruments and Roland Davies, The Dragon to Mrs. Frost), is butler Martin Quincy.

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