This House (play)

This House
Written by James Graham
Date premiered September 18, 2012 (2012-09-18)
Place premiered Cottesloe Theatre
London
Original language English

This House is a play by James Graham. It received its première in the Royal National Theatre's Cottesloe Theatre and ran there from 18 September to 1 December 2012 in a production directed by Jeremy Herrin. In February 2013 it transferred to the larger Olivier Theatre where it continued to play with much critical acclaim to packed houses.

It derives its title from the name given to the House of Commons by MPs. The action takes place in the period in British parliamentary history between the February 1974 general election and the 1979 vote of no confidence in the government of James Callaghan. The play is set in the Palace of Westminster mainly in the offices of the Labour and Tory Chief Whips. Party leaders such as Ted Heath, Harold Wilson, James Callaghan, Jeremy Thorpe and Margaret Thatcher remain offstage characters. The narrative concentrates on the relationships between the two sets of whips (the so-called usual channels), and between the whips, their backbenchers and the members of the minor parties.

Although the play is based on real events it is not a documentary nor is it biography. It is a fictionalized account of a turbulent period in British politics. Conversations are imagined, characters have been changed, incidents added and the time line adjusted.[1]

Cast

Labour Whips

Tory Whips

Ensemble

External links

  1. ↑ Program, This House (Olivier Version). National Theatre. 2013.
  2. ↑ http://www.whatsonstage.com/reviews/theatre/london/E8831349859233/This+House.html
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, June 21, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.