Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford – until 29 February 2020
Reviewed by Terry Genis
4****
The programme notes mention shows such as Yes Minister and The Thick of It, but I wasn’t sure if I was watching a mockumentary or actual history. Whatever one’s politics are, we all know the principal characters portrayed.
The play starts with a factual event in February 2016 when Boris Johnson and his then wife Marina Wheeler entertained Michael Gove and his wife Sarah Vine, and Evgeny Lebedev, the British Russian major shareholder of the Evening Standard. During the dinner Johnson decides to vote ‘leave’ and so sets in motion a chain of events that take us to today. The play shows us how he is influenced by the presence at the dinner of the spirits of three former Prime Ministers – Churchill, Thatcher and Blair. In turn or together they tempt him with the accolade of historical greatness if he is to take a firm position.
The second part of the play takes place in 2029 in post-Brexit Britain, where Boris Johnson has been Prime Minister for some of the time, but for familiar reasons has returned to writing. He is still an MP and the powers consider that it would be good if he became the leader again. The plot reprises the gathering in 2016 but the spirit trio still has an impact on events.
The set was sparse – a grey wall of eight panels with a couple of door openings – and was totally sufficient as the stage was filled by some big characters. I was frustrated by the small dining table and four chairs – why not have a slightly bigger table and another chair for the guests?
Will Barton is the Boris Johnson we think we know. It was very disconcerting to be seeing the Prime Minister on stage when the papers are questioning his whereabouts during flooding disasters. The other four members of the cast each portrayed three characters and gave good impressions of the known people.
This is a story of our time, so the script will be updated to reflect events. There were also some clear references to the locality, which all added to the fun interpretation of our recent history and a possible future.