This House (play)

This House
Written by	James Graham
Date premiered	September 18, 2012 (2012-09-18)
Place premiered	Cottesloe Theatre London
Original language	Englisch

This House is a play by James Graham. It received its première in the Cottesloe Theatre at the Royal National Theatre from 18 September to 1 December 2012 in a production directed by Jeremy Herrin. In February 2013 it transferred to the larger Olivier Theatre where it continued to play with much critical acclaim to packed houses until May 2013.

The show was revived at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester from 23 September to 29 October 2016 before it received its West End debut at the Garrick Theatre where it ran from 19 November 2016 to 25 February 2017.

A UK tour will begin from 23 February 2018 at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.

It derives its title from the name given to the House of Commons 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. The play is set in the Palace of Westminster mainly in the offices of the Labour and Conservative Chief Whips. Party leaders such as Ted Heath, Harold Wilson, James Callaghan, Jeremy Thorpe and Margaret Thatcher remain offstage characters. The narrative concentrates on the relationships between the two sets of whips (the so-called usual channels), 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: The play “This House” by James Graham was based on true events that occurred in the 1970s British Parliament. During these years many issues ar ose. In the British Parliament, there is the House of Commons. There are two opposing sides in the House, the Labour party, and the Conservative Party. Those two sides compete against each other for the upcoming elections to pass certain bills. They have to vote fairly amongst both sides to get them to pass, but this was not as easy as it seemed. On both sides, there has to be an equal number of votes. When one man cannot be present to an election, a member from the opposing party has to remove themselves. This method was called pairing. It was more a gentleman’s policy, nothing official from the House. At times throughout the play, relationships break down due to the pairing and tensions rose. At certain points, the pairing caused drama between the two parties. Both sides continued to get defeated and they felt the people could not vote properly because it was so back and forth. More events Graham went over in the play was a cheating aspect. Some of the men did not pair correctly and one side would obtain more votes than another and this caused more issues between the two parties once again. Another final issue Graham brings into play is the tragedy with some of the characters passing away. When members starting getting sick, this caused the men to panic and more stress was put upon them. Then finally after hundreds of defeats they had to call a vote of no confidence, because they did not have faith in the government, and then had to elect a new Prime Minister.

A Vote of No Confidence: As the years of 1974-1979 came to a fall, the House of Commons had to come to a final vote. After many defeats, (defeats were when the members of the House on each opposing side had inconclusive polls and they could not come to a final solution for passing many bills and laws) they had to conclude a Vote of No Confidence. This meant the people had no faith in her majesty’s government. It is a rare occurrence for this decision to be made. The government was spiraling downhill and their actions in the House had consequences. After coming to this conclusion, they have to go and elect a new Prime Minister. The new Prime Minister that was elected was a woman named, Margaret Thatcher.

Pairing: The way the pairing method works is when one man cannot attend a poll a member from the opposing party must choose a member from their side to be removed for the time being as well. This method was never an official rule by Parliament, it was more of a gentleman’s policy that men have followed for centuries. Being unofficial sometimes caused issues when the pairing does not go in the right direction. At certain points, men that were removed from the first sessions attended the second sessions and then the numbers were off balance. This caused a lot of drama in the play. If word of the pairing also does not reach the opposing party, there can be an easy mixup causing the off-balance numbers as well. When this happens, the overseer or speaker, of the polls is not allowed to do a recount because it is not an official rule. This caused chaos throughout the House for both sides. Names were called, fights broke out and overall was not a good atmosphere to be working in as the tensions grew higher. The men accused one another of cheating in the polls when one side was doing better than another, just because they could not handle the losses. They were playing dirty against one another. As the competition got worse, the dirtier they played against each side. Cheating for votes and false pairing caused all the drama. As this continued to go on throughout the play, this caused many more defeats.

Characters and Cast

Character	Original Cast (National Theatre)	Chichester and West End Cast	UK Tour
Labour Whips
Bob Mellish, Labour chief whip	Phil Daniels (Andrew Frame in some performances due to Daniels' bereavement	Phil Daniels	Martin Marquez
Michael Cocks, Labour chief whip under Callaghan	Vincent Franklin	Kevin Doyle	Tony Turner
Walter Harrison, Labour deputy chief whip	Philip Glenister; (later portrayed by Reece Dinsdale when the production transferred)	Steffan Rhodri	James Gaddas
Ann Taylor, Labour whip	Lauren O'Neil	Lauren O'Neil	Natalie Grady
Joe Harper, Labour whip	Richard Ridings	David Hounslow	David Hounslow
Conservative Whips
Humphrey Atkins, Conservative chief whip	Julian Wadham	Malcolm Sinclair	William Chubb
Jack Weatherill, Conservative deputy chief whip	Charles Edwards	Nathaniel Parker	Matthew Pidgeon
Fred Silvester, Conservative whip	Ed Hughes	Ed Hughes	Giles Cooper
Ensemble actors
	Gunnar Cauthery Christopher Godwin Andrew Havill Helena Lymbery Matthew Pidgeon Giles Taylor Tony Turner Rupert Vansittart	Sarah Woodward Peter Landi Robert Gilbert Christopher Godwin Matthew Pidgeon Orlando Wells Giles Taylor Tony Turner	Ian Barritt Stephen Critchlow Ian Houghton Marcus Hutton Harry Kershaw Louise Ludgate Geoffrey Lumb Nicholas Lumley Miles Richardson Orlando Wells Charlotte Worthing

External links

• Official page
• Guardian review (Olivier transfer)

References

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