Review – The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher – Everyman Theatre, Liverpool

When the Everyman Theatre launched their social media campaign for ‘The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher’, it was met by a predictably polarised response. On the one hand there were those who wish that the clocks could be turned back to make such a concept reality, whilst on the other were those remonstrating against the theatre’s decision to stage it and calling for their funding to be axed.

36 years after her premiership ended, and 13 years after her death, Britain’s first female Prime Minister remains a tremendously divisive character, possibly moreso in Merseyside than almost anywhere else in England. Even today if you speak her name in a public place here, ears will prick up and heads will turn. Everyone remembers the infamous ‘Managed Decline’ memo sent from Geoffrey Howe to the PM, which has since become symbolic of the administration’s attitude towards Liverpool (a facsimile of the memo can be seen hanging in the Everyman’s mezzanine bar at the moment).

Hilary Mantel wrote her short story ‘The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher’ in 2014, just a year after the Iron Lady’s demise, and it received a similarly divided reaction; it was selected for the BBC National Short Story Award, while the Daily Mail called it ‘warped’ and ‘a distasteful fantasy.’

Now it has been worked into a full length stage play by celebrated playwright Alexandra Wood, which receives its premiere here at the Everyman this week. I had expected that the work may well be both irreverent and witty, but I could never have imagined anything that would be at once so balanced, nuanced and hysterically funny.

It is 6th August 1983, and we find ourselves in Windsor, in the apartment of Caroline, a single divorcee who works in a jewellery shop. She is waiting for a plumber to fix her heating, so when Brendan presses her buzzer she lets him in. It soon becomes clear that Brendan is no plumber though, and his toolbag contains a quite different sort of equipment.

Caroline’s flat overlooks the private hospital where the Prime Minister has been undergoing eye surgery, and she is due to leave within the hour. At first Caroline thinks Brendan is a photographer looking for a good viewpoint, but it turns out that he intends a different kind of shooting altogether.

The first act of the play is a masterclass in suspense blended with comedy. Brendan and Caroline develop a strange kind of armed truce, as their conversation reveals that their views on Thatcher have more in common than they thought. It turns out that Caroline is more interested in the bigger picture, and what will become of Brendan after he does the deed, than she is for the welfare of the PM. For his part, Brendan is keen to explain why he is prepared to die for his cause, but his impassioned description of the fate of Irish hunger strikers, coupled with stories about his own family, provide ammunition for Caroline to fire back at him.

None of this prepares us for the bombshell that occurs as we approach the interval, nor for the utterly surreal events that await us in Act II. Ceci Calf’s ingenious set is ready to transport us into a nightmarish world where time keeps slipping as alternate realities play out for us, and the ceaseless drive of imagery and shifting characters is dizzyingly vivid.

Robbie O’Neill and Anita Reynolds are spectacular as Caroline and Brendan, and their dazzling work in the second act of the play is every bit as astonishing as their wonderfully subtle wordplay in the first.

The promotion for the play promises ‘the biggest ‘what if?’ of them all’, and the dreamlike scenario we see appears to explore every possible outcome. A final transformation takes us back to Caroline’s flat, where we reach a resolution, but it is one that still leaves us with conversations to be had and questions to ask.

John Young directs with electrifying precision, and Calf’s set is washed in mood-shifting light by Simisola Majekodunmi, whilst Kieran Lucas’ punchy soundscape adds weight and atmosphere at all the right moments.

There is nothing about this play that seeks to rewrite history or that could be considered a glorification of violence, but it does invite us to consider the sorts of passions that lead people to feel it is their only option. More than that, it encourages us to talk to each other, to understand our differences, and to search for what makes us equals.

The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher is at Liverpool Everyman until 23rd May and tickets are available here.

Star rating: 5 stars

Production Photography by Marc Brenner 

 

This review was originally written for publication by Good News Liverpool