The messy game of politics
At a time when politics is on everyone’s mind and we seem to think the world is in an absolute mess. This House by the National Theatre in London highlights another time in history when English politics seemed to be falling apart. Both the Labour and Tory parties are continually fighting to get legislation through with the Labour party holding power by a small margin and the internal deals to get something done also verges on corrupt. Seems very familiar with the state of US politics.
Once a week the National Theatre London releases one of their productions to view for seven days. This week is was their 2013 version of This House, written by James Graham and directed by Jeremy Herrin. You should also recognize one or two cast members from Downton Abbey.
Set in 1974, the Labour party have just won the election, they are holding a minority government, meaning they are going to have to work with other elected officials to get policy through the Parliament and beat the Tories.
Bob Mellish (Phil Daniels) is a Labour Whip, a Whip is someone who gets the members of Parliament to attend a sitting when a vote on policy is required. But as this government has a minority it will require the Whips to bend over backwards, sometimes literally, to get members of Parliament to vote and vote for the correct bill.
Humphrey Atkins (Julian Wadham) is the Tory Whip, opposition, and he is continually trying to get his party bills across the line through whatever means possible, including “persuading” or literally dragging members from the bathroom to vote on their bill.
Putting this into context you can sort of get an understanding of how and why politics is very very messy and how we have ended up in the situation we currently are with governments around the globe.
Written by James Graham, this is a tongue in cheek production poking fun at the UK Government and how the minority government tried to rule for five years and the bedlam of the ministers trying to get policies changed and bills voted on. Coincidentally the following election brought to power Margaret Thatcher for the Tory Party, as an interesting piece of history and to put it into context.
Directed by Jeremy Herrin, this production of This House is very entertaining and engaging. Watching it on the screen does have some draw backs, like the ability to pause at slow points to get a glass or water or go to the bathroom, inevitably breaking your concentration and causing you to spending a couple of minutes to reengage with the performance. But overall it does make you think about the state of government.
A nice surprise with This House is seeing actor, Charles Edwards as Jack Weatherill. You might recognize Charles from Downton Abbey, The Halcyon and most recently The Crown. He is great as one of the opposition whips and you can see he enjoys causing trouble.
This House is a critic of the UK political system and outlines how some of the members of government go about to get policy voted and approved. It highlights the levels of persuading some of these members have to go to get a bill passed, especially as a lot of the members of government are old, ill or simply dying on the job.
If you are experiencing live theatre withdrawals, like I am, then streaming some of these productions is a nice way to fill the void.
The National Theatre is currently streaming a number of their productions and they can be accessed through their YouTube channel.
Follow Matt D’Silva on Twitter @MattDSilva