Well, what sort of country do you want to live in? Answering this question is more difficult than you might initially think. Most of you will probably sheepishly mumble something about a ‘fairer’ one, or a ‘more inclusive’ one before running out of the shopping centre where you’re being harassed about your political opinions for the purpose of informing a theatre review in a local magazine! That’s the last time I try to take the temperature of the nation…
However, in the more appropriate setting of The Crucible’s Playhouse Theatre, this is one of a number of questions, ranging from the broad idea of ‘what is Margaret Thatcher’s legacy?’ to the intensely personal ‘What are you doing, Jack?’, posed throughout the hour-long Thatcher-Rite performance.
On Saturday night, one audience member actually had a go at answering the initial question, which we’re told by Jack Boal, the creator and performer of the one-person show, is the first time anyone has answered this particular question.
And that’s the thing about this show—it’s never the same from one night to the next.
But what is the show, I hear you beg? Well, again, this is hard to answer, but here goes: Thatcher-Rite is a one-person Margaret Thatcher drag act, complete with sheet white kabuki makeup, 80s power frock, and pearls. This unhinged version of Maggie hosts a tea party in the afterlife made up of audience members, and if this description doesn’t excite your curiosity, we can’t be friends!
It’s more than simply a drag act though (and that’s not to condescend or denigrate drag acts, there’s just a lot more going on here); it’s also an immersive political debate full of audience participation, but instead of being hosted by Fiona Bruce, it’s fronted by a clownish version of Margaret Thatcher—and the debate is all about her!
In Sheffield, as was probably to be expected amongst a theatre-going crowd of Red Wall luvvies, there isn’t much debate; the tea party attendees (victims?), who are sometimes summoned by name to the dinner table set up in the centre of the stage, as well as the audience more generally, are all pretty comfortable with the witch being dead and sing along to that song quite gleefully—Ding dong indeed!
What is really interesting, however, is how quickly audience members make the cognitive leap to believing they are actually addressing the former (and objectively dead) prime minister. One tea party attendee announces she has ‘a bone to pick’ with Thatcher and proceeds to chastise the wigged parody for kicking her out of a school assembly nearly 40 years previously.
Jack’s performance is perfectly pitched when interacting with the audience, and you never quite feel safe from being picked on to contribute, which, at least for me, gives an air of anxiety and discomfort rarely felt since attending hotel entertainment on holiday as a teen!
The moments of farce during the tea party section, such as when Thatcher snatches up all the cucumber sandwiches and sends an audience member away to fetch their own (trickle-down economics, anyone?), only serve to further heighten Jack’s caricature of a nightmarish, Hyacinth Bucket-informed sendup.
Alongside the audience interactions and interwoven with archive clips of Question Time debates about Thatcher, where the likes of Ken Clarke defend the Iron Lady, are snippets of some of Thatcher’s most famous speeches, which Jack lip syncs along with like they’re Lady Gaga bangers!
Other moments are more reflective, as Jack wrestles with the ways in which his own outlook on life matches up with Thatcher’s views; attempting, particularly with the theme of hard work and its importance to him, to struggle to some fleeting sense of common ground with Thatcher.
Jack’s often conflicting connection to Thatcher is thanks to his birthplace. Born in Finchley, North London, as he grew up, he was all too aware of the shadow cast by Thatcher, given that this constituency was her seat as an MP in the 80s. This safe, suburban area is low on arts and culture, and Jack had to move away from his hometown to be allowed to express himself.
Ultimately, Thatcher-Rite is a reflection of the controversial figure’s lasting impact on Jack, Finchley, and the UK as a whole. It’s an unhinged look at her legacy that sometimes feels baffling and anxiety-inducing but never shies away from asking the big questions.
Thatcher-Rite was performed at @sheffieldtheatres Playhouse on Saturday, 8th June, and was the final ever performance of the show.
