Review: Handbagged
Peter Morgan's The Audience nearly saw plans for the extension of Handbagged from a 20 minute piece abandoned.
But now the play has just transferred to the West End to the 700-seater Vaudeville from the 200-seater theatre in Kilburn.
Marion Bailey, Stella Gonet, Fenella Woolgar, Neet Mohan and Jeff Rawle reprise their original roles, and are joined by Lucy Robinson to complete the company.
Margaret Thatcher's time at Number 10 signified a time of girl power, with our royal and political heads both female.
Handbagged is the imagined weekly meetings between these two female icons. The results lean toward the fact that relations between the two were far from rosy.
The PMs eleven years in office are played out by the older and younger versions of the Queen (played by Lucy Robinson and Marion Bailey) and Thatcher (Fenella Woolgar and Stella Gonet) simultaneously. The younger may start a thought and the older may finish, or vice versa.
They are joined by Neet Mohan and Jeff Rawle who play a number of roles from Dennis to Nancy Reagan.
Obviously the entire play is based on speculation. Despite the Sunday Times publishing a front-page story itemising the monarch's dismay at her "uncaring" government in July 1986 (which both the Buckingham Palace and Downing Street denounced), there is little to base the telling of the weekly meetings on.
The two women did have a number of differing views, many of which stemmed from the Queen's attachment to the Commonwealth, so there is no doubt discussions on Zimbabwe for example, cropped up.
For me the stand out performance was Fenella Woolgar who was uncanny in her performance as the PM. Marion Bailey is marvellous as Q (the older Queen), her animated face is just as telling as some of her witty one liners.
There are some moments that will have you laughing for the wrong reasons. Some of the accents used by Mohan and Rawle whilst playing the 17 other characters aren't always perfect. But they are playing 17 characters between them so I think they are allowed some slack!
Like Mrs T herself, I have no doubt this play will enjoy a very long run.
Handbagged opens on the 10th April at the Vaudeville: www.nimaxtheatres.com/vaudeville-theatre 0844 412 4663
But now the play has just transferred to the West End to the 700-seater Vaudeville from the 200-seater theatre in Kilburn.
Marion Bailey, Stella Gonet, Fenella Woolgar, Neet Mohan and Jeff Rawle reprise their original roles, and are joined by Lucy Robinson to complete the company.
Margaret Thatcher's time at Number 10 signified a time of girl power, with our royal and political heads both female.
Handbagged is the imagined weekly meetings between these two female icons. The results lean toward the fact that relations between the two were far from rosy.
The PMs eleven years in office are played out by the older and younger versions of the Queen (played by Lucy Robinson and Marion Bailey) and Thatcher (Fenella Woolgar and Stella Gonet) simultaneously. The younger may start a thought and the older may finish, or vice versa.
They are joined by Neet Mohan and Jeff Rawle who play a number of roles from Dennis to Nancy Reagan.
Obviously the entire play is based on speculation. Despite the Sunday Times publishing a front-page story itemising the monarch's dismay at her "uncaring" government in July 1986 (which both the Buckingham Palace and Downing Street denounced), there is little to base the telling of the weekly meetings on.
The two women did have a number of differing views, many of which stemmed from the Queen's attachment to the Commonwealth, so there is no doubt discussions on Zimbabwe for example, cropped up.
For me the stand out performance was Fenella Woolgar who was uncanny in her performance as the PM. Marion Bailey is marvellous as Q (the older Queen), her animated face is just as telling as some of her witty one liners.
There are some moments that will have you laughing for the wrong reasons. Some of the accents used by Mohan and Rawle whilst playing the 17 other characters aren't always perfect. But they are playing 17 characters between them so I think they are allowed some slack!
Like Mrs T herself, I have no doubt this play will enjoy a very long run.
Handbagged opens on the 10th April at the Vaudeville: www.nimaxtheatres.com/vaudeville-theatre 0844 412 4663