Out of the Margins

There is a great moment in the play when one of the chorus, the Member for Peebles, says: “A Conservative government always eventually falls because they believe themselves entitled to power. And Labour governments always fall... because they don't. Just a thought.” To which the playwright's margin scribble reads: “Was proud of this 'summary' when I came up with it! Ahem...”

Listed as one of Evening Standard's "50 best plays of the 21st century", This House takes place between the February general election of 1974 and the 1979 vote of no confidence in the Jim Calllaghan government. Most of the action happens in the Labour and Conservative whips offices, with the party leaders - Ted Heath, Harold Wilson, James Callaghan, Jeremy Thorpe and Margaret Thatcher - remaining off-stage characters. "I decided early on," starts James Graham's note in the cast list, "to name the 'chorus' of MPs by their constituency. I hoped this might liberate an audience from having to know or remember who the MPs actually were". Find out what got "the first big 'laugh' in the show." Discover which scene the actors "adored" playing. 

Find out which character James Graham "very much enjoyed writing". And then - wow - discover the incredible moment Graham remembers when many former Tory MPs from the period had booked tickets to come and see the production at the National Theatre in London. It turned out to be "the day Margaret Thatcher died". May the lucky successful bidder of this lot from one of the UK's most celebrated and busiest modern playwrights enjoy reading the rest. Order, order!