This House, James Graham. This was a recent hit, looking at the Labour Party's increasingly desperate machinations to pass legislation in the years between 1974 and 1979, with majorities so tiny that MPs needed to be helicoptered and wheelchaired in to get bills voted through. Graham's original approach was to set it in the Whips' offices: the downstage area was divided into two as we saw the engine rooms of the two parties at work. The minutiae of policy was put aside in favour of a study of the relations between these party managers, who over the years got to know each other extremely well. While the play was largely made up of local episodes - stubborn backbenchers, a member faking suicide and eventually imprisoned for fraud (who was that?), Heseltine seizing the mace - there were over-arching themes such as the changing make-up of the House, and the rise of the modern professional politician. The human dramas at the centre were compelling, and we were drawn into the author's obsession with the workings of this bizarre institution. Behind it all was the rise of Thatcher, but it didn't feel as though we were being invited to hiss at that or yearn for the past. This play transferred from the Cottesloe, and the mighty Olivier space was tackled with a scaffolded walkway, a huge Big Ben and a recreation of the House of Commons. I didn't think that having some audience on green benches worked terribly well, as they simply didn't look like MPs. But the sweep across time and events was exciting, the final scenes were touchingly played, and one had a sense that we were seeing a country in profound transformation, before the Thatcher Revolution had even started.
Tuesday, 16 July 2013
This House, James Graham
This House, James Graham. This was a recent hit, looking at the Labour Party's increasingly desperate machinations to pass legislation in the years between 1974 and 1979, with majorities so tiny that MPs needed to be helicoptered and wheelchaired in to get bills voted through. Graham's original approach was to set it in the Whips' offices: the downstage area was divided into two as we saw the engine rooms of the two parties at work. The minutiae of policy was put aside in favour of a study of the relations between these party managers, who over the years got to know each other extremely well. While the play was largely made up of local episodes - stubborn backbenchers, a member faking suicide and eventually imprisoned for fraud (who was that?), Heseltine seizing the mace - there were over-arching themes such as the changing make-up of the House, and the rise of the modern professional politician. The human dramas at the centre were compelling, and we were drawn into the author's obsession with the workings of this bizarre institution. Behind it all was the rise of Thatcher, but it didn't feel as though we were being invited to hiss at that or yearn for the past. This play transferred from the Cottesloe, and the mighty Olivier space was tackled with a scaffolded walkway, a huge Big Ben and a recreation of the House of Commons. I didn't think that having some audience on green benches worked terribly well, as they simply didn't look like MPs. But the sweep across time and events was exciting, the final scenes were touchingly played, and one had a sense that we were seeing a country in profound transformation, before the Thatcher Revolution had even started.
