2nd May 1997 *** TNT
The political becomes intensely personal in the trio of schematically linked scenes which make up Jack Thorne’s touching, often amusing, 90-minute new play. All three take place in bedrooms during the eight hours from just before midnight to the arrival of the morning papers on the day that Tony Blair’s landslide victory ousted the Conservatives after 18 years in power.
First we see septuagenarian Tory MP Robert with the loyal wife (excellent Linda Broughton) who, willingly, subordinated her own wishes to support his career. With his party and his health failing (an oxygen canister sits by the bedside) he knows his days as a parliamentarian are numbered, a dinosaur from a previous era with no place in a new political arena.
Then mild, indecisive housing officer Ian finds himself cornered in his own bedsit by a very drunk Sarah who crashed the Lib Dem election night party for the free booze and meant to pick up his friend instead. He’s completely out of his depth with this out-of-control predator (a performance of brave abandon from Phoebe Waller-Bridge) who sniffs his sheets like a randy dog one minute, then reveals her damaged vulnerability the next with a whispered confession we cannot hear.
Finally, it’s a bright new morning and A- Level schoolboys Jake and Will wake to find themselves curled like spoons in the former's bed. With his whole future before him, Cambridge-bound Jake excitedly scours the tabloids for the Labour cabinet appointments, while best friend Will (a touchingly tremulous Jamie Samuel) hopes against hope that one, almost certainly innocent, night might mark a shift – or at least a compromise - in their relationship.
Depending on which side you’re sitting, the bed (itself a symbol of power) moves, scene by scene, from far right to middle to left on the traverse stage which bisects the small auditorium. And although these glimpses of private reactions to country-wide change never delve into the political issues involved, the recognisable characters metaphorically encapsulate aspects, at least, of not only three different generations but of the three main parties as well.
Bush Theatre, Shepherd's Bush Green, W12 8QD TUBE: Shepherd's Bush (020 8743 5050; bushtheatre.co.uk). Until Oct 10. £15
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