Details

1974. The UK faces economic crisis and a hung parliament. In a culture hostile to cooperation, it's a period when votes are won or lost by one, when there are fist fights in the bars and when sick MPs are carried through the lobby to register their vote. Let those on the continent cooperate and hug and kiss each other on the ruddy cheek. Here in Britain, one party governs and we get things done. It's a time when a staggering number of politicians die, and the building creaks under idiosyncrasies and arcane traditions. A minority government? No one with any sense or gumption gives you more than a matter of weeks. You're gonna fall, and fast, and hard. So start finding things to land on. Now. Set in the engine rooms of Westminster, James Graham's This House strips politics down to the practical realities of those behind the scenes: the whips who roll up their sleeves and on occasion bend the rules to shepherd and coerce a diverse chorus of MPs within the Mother of all Parliaments.

Cast/Performers

Phil Daniels (Bob Mellish), Kevin Doyle (Michael Cocks), Christopher Godwin (Batley / Woolwich West / Belfast North / Western Isles / Ensemble), David Hounslow (Joe Harper), Ed Hughes (Fred Silvester), Peter Landi (Esher / Belfast West / St Helens / Ensemble), Lauren O'Neil (Ann Taylor), Nathaniel Parker (Jack Weatherill), Matthew Pidgeon (Paddington South / Chelmsford / South Ayrshire / Henley / Merioneth / Coventry North West / Rushcliffe / Perry Barr), Steffan Rhodri (Walter Harrison), Malcolm Sinclair (Humphrey Atkins), Giles Taylor (Speaker 1 / Serjeant 2 / West Lothian / Ensemble), Tony Turner (Bromsgrove / Abingdon / Paisley / Fermanagh / Ensemble), Orlando Wells (Walsall North / Plymouth Sutton / Speaker 2 / Clerk / Ensemble), Sarah Woodward (Rochester / Chatham / Coventry SW / Welwyn & Hatfield / Lady Batley / Ensemble)

Creatives/Company

Author: James Graham
Producer(s): Chichester Festival Theatre, National Theatre, Headlong
Director(s): Jeremy Herrin, Alastair Coomer (casting director)
Design: Rae Smith
Lighting: Paule Constable
Choreographer: Scott Ambler
Music: Stephen Warbeck
Sound: Ian Dickinson