Thatcherwrite: First play about the Iron Lady's death to be performed next month

Alice Jones' Arts Diary

Margaret Thatcher arriving at 10 Downing Street in London after winning the general election in 1979 (PA)

That didn’t take long. The first plays about the death of Margaret Thatcher have been commissioned and will be performed at Theatre 503 in Battersea, south London next month.

Dan Rebellato, Fraser Grace (Breakfast with Mugabe) and the Daily Telegraph’s theatre critic Dominic Cavendish are among writers who will contribute short plays to Thatcherwrite.

Rebellato, whose last play, Negative Signs of Progress, about the Syrian uprising aired on Radio 4 in February, was asked to get writing just a week after Thatcher’s death. His play will explore her “notion of individualism”.

“I don’t like things that are very on the nose politically – people on stage shouting. It’s won’t be a load of lefty people whinging about Thatcher. Our role is to see what more theatre can bring to the debate about the legacy, the personality, the controversies.” Will there be a Thatcher figure  in his play? “If I can pull it off, there may be 20 Thatcher figures. Although I’m not sure how  they will all fit on Theatre 503’s stage.” Watch this space.

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