This House (2013)

Great National Theatre Live political yarn, about a period in British history I didn’t know much about. Unfortunately still very relevant to the U.S. in 2020, even though it takes place in the ‘70s in a different country.

 

In 1974, the Labour Party gains tenuous control over the House of Commons. Despite being the party with the most MPs, they can’t actually maintain a majority on the floor over the Conservative Party without forging alliances with members of minor parties. Knowing that every vote counts in holding back the Tories from presenting a vote of no confidence and wresting away their power, Labour sets out on a campaign of holding their position at any cost.

 

Much like The Thick of It helped educate me on some of the ways British politics is different than the U.S., this play does the same – it even features an actor from The Thick of It (Vincent Franklin, who played Tory spin doctor Stewart, playing a very different character in government here.) There’s the mere fact that there are enough members of minor parties in government that the major parties need to court them (many representing districts outside England – Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales – along with other “odds and sods,” as they’re referred to.) We also see the practice of pairing, a “gentlemen’s agreement” between Labour and Tories to have a member on one side sit out on a vote if the other side has a member unable to vote due to circumstances like an illness.

 

And yet, there are also depressing similarities. Just as the partisan fighting in Hamilton is unfortunately still timely, we see how, more than anything, Labour and Tories beating one another is more important to both parties than what either of them actually stands for. And so, everything Labour does is a desperate bid to hang into their threadbare majority. MPs who are aged and ailing are kept from retiring, since the party can’t afford to lose their warm body from the rolls, and MPs who disagree with particular party compromises are berated for voting their consciences. On the Conservative side, they too vie for the allegiance of the minor-party MPs purely over the purpose of outvoting Labour, and they enact different schemes to essentially exhaust Labour out of power. It’s a political war of attrition.

 

It’s unsettling to watch, although it’s fascinating too. All the actors command the modestly-set stage, with the core cast members on each side fostering strong interactions among themselves and with the other party. The ensemble pulls triple-plus duty, continually popping up in different costumes and accents to play assorted minor-party members or party back-benchers. In addition to Vincent Franklin, who I mentioned above, the production also features Charles Edwards, who I recognized as Michael Gregson on Downton Abbey.

 

Warnings

 

Lots of swearing, sexual references, drinking/smoking, and thematic elements (including self-harm.)