Ruth is passionate about fostering positive change within the local community and regularly contributes insights and stories to The Havering Daily.
Written by Moira Buffini and directed by Alex Thorpe, Handbagged is a fascinating jaunt through 1980s Great Britain, the ‘greatness’ of which begins to unravel before our very eyes.
Maggie and Liz are replicated in parallel younger and older forms, with all four leading women portraying the personal dynamics between them in time and space. This gives the production its primary shape. They dance us (sometimes literally), through what might have been behind closed doors, well-lubricated with some enjoyable 1980s classics from the dark delights of Alice Cooper and Depeche Mode, to the enduringly heart-wrenching Zombie by the Cranberries about the victims of the bombings during The Troubles in Norther Ireland.
A minimal circular set comprises of a modest stage underneath a foreboding coin-like disc with The Queen’s profile tilted downwards so as to foreshadow all over which it looms. Interestingly, the empathy for working people that is increasingly entertained by Liz is the subject of imagined tension here: most notably, when – to Maggie’s horror – Liz moves steadily outwards from their private conversations to an entire Christmas Speech that leads Maggie to suspect Liz of all but veering headfirst into communism.
It is a play of contrasts; and while neoliberal conservativism vs socialism seems too crude, it’s interesting how bold Liz is fancied to have been in private given the UK’s politically dormant constitution – and the corresponding demure public image – with which she took on her mantle.
As for Maggie, the image of this straight-laced, stalwart Conservative – with policies set on a foundation ofmethodistic self-reliance, and Smithian Laissez-faireeconomics – is indeed ripe for satirical observations of vulnerability. Is it touching, or stomach-churning to think that this unflappable leader came unstuck at the sight and political cut and thrust of dreamy US film-star-cum-president Ronald Regan? Arguably not a convincing candidate to soften the Iron Lady in question exactly…but certainly amusing!
Supporting actors Cassius Konneh and Gerard McDermott provide versatility and Shakespearean comedy value as they speedily morph into different characters, with playful interventions across the fourth wall to catalyse a smoothly voyeuristic pathway between now and then. It is the use of self-aware metacognition that crowns this particular production, anchoring it to the current climate and radical shifts in established British narratives.
In this regard, Konneh’s performance stands out definitively,especially when they retrieve some of the monumental cultural-political responses to the injustices of the time, enhancing their conspicuousness (in their inevitable absencein prime ministerial accounts), including: state-sanctioned structural racism; widespread cruelty during the AIDS epidemic, Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp, The Miners’ Strike and trade union movement, and of course the poll tax riots.
It’s all here in this timely and impressively comprehensive resurrection of both the late Queen and the most divisive character in the history of modern British politics, so do catch it by Saturday evening at Queen’s Theatre before it moves on in its national tour.
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