Following the last year’s successful show of Maggie’s transition into an international cabaret star, the Iron Lady is back; this time to revive and conquer the world of Saturday night light entertainment and “take back Saturday nights like I took back the Falklands”.
In Matt Tedford’s latest incarnation of Margaret Thatcher, the incumbent Conservative government asks her for help in coming up with an arbitrary way of deciding how to cut benefits and, lo, her Saturday night game show is born. Assisted by her scantily-clad “Tories who keep the Scories’, Cameron and Osborne, Maggie divides the audience into two teams (the Strivers and the Skivers) and audience members are hand-picked to participate in hilarious nonsensical games to determine who wins the golden giro.
In between games, Maggie is visited by several characters from light entertainment, Cilla and Brucey; and figures from current politics including Angela Merkel, Nicola Sturgeon, Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Jones; all of whom try to convince her that right-wing conservatism isn’t the way. But will the lady be turned?
This show is fabulously witty and is literally hilarious gag after hilarious gag. The humour is so sharp and topical there literally couldn’t have been a better time to showcase this piece. Tedford actually admitted on stage that given the fast-developing politics in the UK at the moment, half the show had to be re-written at the last minute.
I saw Maggie’s “Queen of Soho” show at the Leicester Sq Theatre last year and it was good. This show is brilliant. At a time when the whole country is politically charged this is the perfect show to go along and see and take an hour out to laugh about it all.
Margaret Thatcher Queen of Game Shows plays at Assembly George Square Gardens until 28 August 2016 (not 15th).
Reviewed by Pete Forbes-DeGrunier
