Mrs Thatcher opens proceedings, banging on about freedom and democracy as if to a class of unruly schoolchildren. Even in 1979 when Mrs T paid her first visit to Buckingham Palace, she had seen it all. She goes on and on and on and will probably see many more Prime Ministers out. But she’s dead and gone.Īnother part of the fun is that The Queen is very much with us. She wouldn’t have seen the comedy in this play and that’s part of the fun. When she came on the telly like Boedicea as Britain burned or rioted or engaged in mortal combat behind her, my mum would invariably chuckle and say: “Here she comes.” Maggie and harmony went together like coffee and ketchup. No wonder she became a bit of a comedy turn, albeit a black comedy for many. “Where there is discord, may we bring harmony,” she earnestly asserted on election day in 1979. Remember “We are a grandmother”? It’s in the play, along with much else to make this a bit of a nostalgia trip for those who remember Maggie’s decade. When they’re all on stage together, which is most of the time, the vibes are enough to shiver the timbers of this wonderful theatre and cause the eye to look furtively for a sofa to hide behind (former Tory cabinet ministers will know what I’m talking about).Īctually, I loved this play, which imagines what passed between Her Maj and Mrs T during their weekly audiences when the ‘Iron Lady’ reigned at 10 Downing Street and became ever more regal. Yes, such was their breadth, personality and scope that Moira Buffini’s comedy requires two Queens and two Margaret Thatchers. Throughout the 1980s they were the two most powerful women in the country – in the western world, in fact – and here we get them in stereo.
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