OK, so nine short plays on the history of women in politics (and the 'testimonies' of five living politicians) isn't everyone's idea of fun on a hot, sunny Saturday in June! Well, helped by the Tricycle's aircon, it proved to be a theatrical feast I wouldn't have missed for the world. The Tricycle is the only theatre with the bravery and balls (inappropriate terminology, I know) to stage this. It's only a year since they did a thrilling whole day history of Afghanistan in the same way and I have to confess I never thought they'd match it - but they have. The nine plays take us from Elizabeth I to all-women selection lists and the writing, by nine different women playwrights, was even more consistent than The Great Game, with an intriguing and unpredictable selection of subjects and innovative approaches to them. There really wasn't a dud amongst them, though Sue Townsend's albeit funny contribution steered furthest from the theme in the cause of her cartoon-like relentless and tired snipes at the New Labour project. Marie Jones and Rebecca Lenkiewicz gave us fascinating new historical perspectives on the suffragettes and Liz I respectively. Moira Buffini's take on Thatch & Liz II was clever and funny yet insightful. Lucy Kirkwood reminded us how we've virtually eliminated Greenham Common from history. Joy Wilkinson shows us that little has changed between the 1994 and 2010 Labour leadership contests. Zinnie Harris viciously but accurately shows us many men's attitudes to all-women selection lists. Sam Holcroft stages a very intelligent debate about pornography through a conversation between a successful pornographer and a PM let down by her husband. Bola Agbaje is bang up-to-date with her study of the power of sex. Add to that verbatim contributions from Shirley Williams, Edwina Currie, Oona King, Jacqui Smith & Anne Widdicombe, and a late addition (?) from Nick Clegg which proves to be the most chilling of all! Well if that doesn't live up to my 'theatrical feast' epithet, I don't know what does! Indira Rubasingham, assisted by Amy Hodge, has given each play a fresh directorial perspective with Handbagged, Bloody Wimmin and Acting Leader getting particularly inventive staging. She's assembled an excellent ensemble of twelve actors who play up to six roles each, except Lara Rossi who gets to play Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, John Prescott, Peter Mandelson, Clare Short and Margaret Beckett's husband in the same play - a tremendous debut from someone still at LAMDA! It was particularly good to see Kika Markham, Tom Mannion and Stella Gonet again. If you saw The Great Game, you shouldn't miss this different but equally exhilarating experience. If you didn't, suspend disbelief and go see this and you'll be back for The Great Game when it's revival follows it. Seeing them all together, it's an intelligent, relevant and thought-provoking experience - and great entertainment too. Yet again, The Tricycle leads the way. - Gareth James
28 Jun 10
I only saw the THEN collection of four plays at a rather sparsely attended Tricycle, but at least there were no problems with the unreserved seating. In any show made up of short one-act plays the quality is bound to be variable but the biggest surprise is that the theme seems to suggest that "right on feminism" may not be the answer to improving women's representation in modern politics. For example, it's admitted that the suffrage movement did almost nothing towards winning the vote and even that an exploitation of sexuality might have more of an impact than the Greenham Common style protests. The undoubted highlight is a plausible imagining of the relationship between the Queen and Mrs. Thatcher, featuring a spot-on impersonation by Sheila Gonet as Mrs. T and one of the best justifications of the role of the constitutional monarch that I have heard - another surprise at this venue. This is a brave and timely venture even if it is not unreservedly successful. - David Baxter
