''This House'' is a play by James Graham. It received its première in the

Cottesloe Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...

at the Royal National Theatre from 18 September to 1 December 2012 in a production directed by

Jeremy Herrin Jeremy Herrin is an English theatre director. He is the artistic director of Headlong Theatre. Career Having trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, Herrin was an assistant director ...

. In February 2013 it transferred to the larger

Olivier Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. In ...

where it continued to play with much critical acclaim to packed houses until May 2013. The show was revived at the Minerva Theatre,

Chichester Chichester () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publi ...

from 23 September to 29 October 2016 before it received its West End debut at the

Garrick Theatre The Garrick Theatre is a West End theatre, located in Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster, named after the stage actor David Garrick. It opened in 1889 with ''The Profligate'', a play by Arthur Wing Pinero, and another Pinero play, ' ...

where it ran from 19 November 2016 to 25 February 2017. A UK tour began on 23 February 2018 at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. In May 2019 the play was voted Play of the Decade in Bloomsbury Publishing's '60 Years of Modern Plays' public vote. It derives its title from the name given to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

by MPs. The action takes place in the period in British parliamentary history between the February 1974 general election and the

1979 vote of no confidence in the government of James Callaghan A vote of no confidence in the British Labour government of James Callaghan occurred on 28 March 1979. The vote was brought by opposition leader Margaret Thatcher and was lost by the Labour government by one vote (311 votes to 310), which was ...

. The play is set in the Palace of Westminster mainly in the offices of the Labour and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

Chief Whips. Party leaders such as

Ted Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 191617 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. Heath a ...

, Harold Wilson, James Callaghan,

Jeremy Thorpe John Jeremy Thorpe (29 April 1929 – 4 December 2014) was a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament for North Devon from 1959 to 1979, and as leader of the Liberal Party from 1967 to 1976. In May 1979 he was tried at the ...

and

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

remain offstage characters (though

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

leader

David Steel David Martin Scott Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood, (born 31 March 1938) is a British politician. Elected as Member of Parliament for Roxburgh, Selkirk, and Peebles, followed by Tweeddale, Ettrick, and Lauderdale, he served as the final leade ...

is depicted). The narrative concentrates on the relationships between the two sets of whips (the so-called

usual channels "Usual channels" is a term used in British politics to describe the relationship between the whips of the Government and the Opposition. Essentially, this is to obtain co-operation between the two parties, in order to ensure as much business as po ...

), and between the whips, their backbenchers and the members of the minor parties. Although the play is based on real events, it is neither a documentary nor a biography, but a fictionalised account of a turbulent period in British politics. Conversations are imagined, characters have been changed, incidents added and the time line adjusted.

Summary

''This House'' is based on true events that occurred between 1974 and 1979 in the House of Commons. These years involved very tense periods in Parliament, with the Labour and Conservative whips working hard to defend and remove the Government respectively. The February 1974 election had produced a '

hung parliament A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition (also known as an alliance or bloc) has an absolute majority of legisla ...

' (where no party has a majority to govern and pass laws). This deadlock led to the October 1974 general election, where the incumbent Labour government gained a majority of 1 vote - meaning that whips had to ensure every Labour MP voted whenever the Government needed to win a vote (which might happen multiple times a day). This situation got more difficult between October 1974 and March 1979 as the Labour government lost MPs in

by-elections A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election use ...

and defections to other parties. The government was finally defeated in a

vote of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

- by 1 vote - in March 1979. It is the job of parliamentary whips to win votes for their party, by tracking how many of their colleagues are going to vote and convincing (or threatening) reluctant colleagues to vote the way they want. Usually, when one member cannot be present at a division, the whips will attempt to 'pair' them, by striking an informal agreement with the opposition that one of their members will also miss the vote. As happened between 1974 and 1979, throughout the play, these relationships and pairing break down due to the tensions in the government with a small majority, or even none at all. At different times, both parties lost votes in circumstances where they felt that the other party had cheated the pairing (that is, the MP who promised not to vote had voted). Sick members were obliged to attend the House for their votes to be counted, and this was done even in circumstances where this may have contributed to their deaths. It is this tension, and the work it cause the party whips, which the play fictionalises.

MPs

As well as the whips listed below, MPs

Audrey Wise Audrey Wise (''née'' Brown; 4 January 1932Wise gave her age as thirty-nine when nominated for the Coventry parliamentary seat, though she had just turned forty-two when she was elected in February 1974. Her date of birth was routinely reported ...

and

Alfred Broughton Sir Alfred Davies Devonsher Broughton (18 October 1902 – 2 April 1979) was a British Labour Party politician. Early life Broughton was educated at Rossall School, Downing College, Cambridge and the London Hospital and became a doctor ...

appear in the play.

Characters and cast

External links

Official page''Guardian'' review (Olivier transfer)

References

{{James Graham 2012 plays English political plays Fiction set in 1974 Fiction set in 1975 Fiction set in 1976 Fiction set in 1977 Fiction set in 1978 Fiction set in 1979 Plays set in the 1970s Plays by James Graham Plays set in London Plays based on real people Cultural depictions of British prime ministers