Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

Game’s up

Maggie’s End<br /> Shaw Death and the King’s Horseman <br /> Olivier

issue 18 April 2009

Maggie’s End
Shaw

Death and the King’s Horseman
Olivier

Here’s an unexpected treat. An angry left-wing play crammed with excellent jokes. Ed Waugh and Trevor Wood’s lively bad-taste satire starts with Margaret Thatcher’s death. A populist New Labour Prime Minister rashly opts to grant her a state funeral which prompts a furious reaction in Labour’s northern heartlands. Former poll-tax rebel Leon Thomas organises a protest march to London intent on disrupting the ceremony and shaming the government. To complicate matters, Leon’s daughter Rosa is a rising Labour MP entangled with the super-smooth Home Secretary (with the slightly-too-clever name Neil Callaghan). In the opening scene Rosa is discovered tupping Callaghan on a parliamentary desk. The news about Thatcher arrives via mobile phone. Both orgasm simultaneously. Gags like these arrive in plentiful swarms. The Mail on Sunday is described as ‘Mein Kampf with pictures’.

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