It's 1974 and there's a hung Parliament in Britain. MPs, Whips and the Speaker battle it out to get votes and control of...this house and policy. James Graham's writing is always funny, well staged, engaged and deftly targeted. Really well acted production, but I'd forgotten how sweary it is - but, well, it is 1974. Not only is the language offensive but there are crimes against fashion - never has so much orange and brown, checks and stripes (at the same time!) comb overs, quiffs and sideburn-age been displayed altogether at the same time, But well, it is 1974...
Following changes of role, MPs and the Whips battle it out, with some MPs departing up the celestial staircase to the bright light of the heavenly Commons along the way. There are painful decisions along the way such as whether to call back terminally ill MPs to rock the vote; who to lock in the toilets (with a screwdriver!) to win the vote and whether a female MP should breastfeed in the House when the baby is clearly not a member of any known political party. All dominated by the back of Big Ben's clock.
This is no dry political play tho - apart from the swearing and the fashion horrors, there is a lot of fun to be had, singing and dancing MPs at moments, an exasperated Speaker of the House announcing new scenes by constituency and a horrific ending as they fail to do what they need to do, and the polished tones of Margaret Thatcher enunciate over the airwaves, and well, we all know what's coming next. The lady's not for turning, but things in this House are about to change dramatically. Tradition and procedure is also shown as well as class and background and the whole juggling act throughout this play - my favourite part being the Speaker being very, very upset because not only has his and the Queen's symbol of authority, the Mace, been grabbed by unruly MPs, but returned to its place upside down, breaking the whole workings of the house until its restored rightly. Much of this is seen through a female MP rising to be parliamentary Whip, which gives an interesting spin on things.
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