Handbagged: A Right Royal Triumph

I spent the evening listening to the thoughts of Her Majesty the Queen and the Right Honorable Mrs Margaret Thatcher at the Wolves Grand and I am pkeased to say it was a right royal triumph! Handbagged by Moira Buffini is a trip through the 1980’s, through the social and cultural history of the decade, as seen through the weekly meetings of The Queen and her Prime Minister, along with a host of supporting characters. It is often funny, sometimes surprisingly musical, and very thought provoking. It is, in a word, superb.

When Margaret Thatcher won the 1979 election, she became the first female MP of The Queen’s reign. It was a famously rocky relationship, with the two woman, the most important in the land, proving to have little in common. The meetings are imagined here, with the two women(played by Helen Reuben and Emma Earnest) having their meetings, whilst their older selves (Morag Cross and Sarah Moyle) watch on, making witty, sometimes barbed asides, whilst also sometimes denying saying the things we hear.

Making up the cast we have Casius Konneh and Gérard McDermott as Actor 1 and Actor 2. The two men have been hired to play a lot of the key players during Maggie’s ‘reign’, from Prince Philip (an hilarious one liner) to Dennis Thatcher, from Kenneth Kuanda, to a showstopping Nancy Reagan. The two actors also serve as a consciense of the piece, as the Mags/T character tries to focus only on the events she wants to remember- her triumphs. A particularly powerful scene sees both men performing as Neil Kinnock giving a speech from 1983 when he iterated what a vote for Thatcher could be. It felt eerily preminiscent of life today…

The performance from the ensemble cast are all pitch perfect, giving nothing laughs aplenty and goosebump moments. The addition of 1980’s hits including songs from Duran Duran, ELO, and The Cranberries are a brilliant, quirky addition – you have never heard Zombie or Mr Blue Sky performed in such a strange, unique manner, but it so works.

A modern history lesson has never been so good.

Handbagged is at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre until 1st March.

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