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The Lowry, Salford
18th to 22nd March 2025
*** Handbags at dawn ***
*** The Crown meets Horrible Histories ***
An enjoyable night was had watching this fact v’s fiction drama. Think the crown meets horrible histories. Handbagged is an 11-year story of what happened behind closed doors between the Queen and the then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. No one knows what was really said but this drama come comedy explores what might have been said as well as thought during the time. It covers everything from the PM getting into power, the miners’ strike to her downfall and all in-between. They talk about all the life events they go thought, as long as they leave them. In a good light and they would carefully edit more negative events out. Cassius Konneh, known as actor 1, plays amongst others a courtier, as well as Nancy Regan. He would occasionally jump out of character and interjects with extra narration. This would highlight key events such as the miners' strike that the two were quite happy NOT to discuss, this added a fun extra layer to the educational evening.
Scenes were punctuated with different songs from the eras, helping to guide us and keep us on track to what the year was. A simple set of huge coins were all that created different levels on the stage. They would be used by the actors so that they might be higher than another indicating more power or influence at that point. Chairs would be added to the top coin tier, symbolising the weekly audience the queen and PM would have.The power dynamic between the two could often be described as handbags at dawn.
During a pretalk that was offered on the first night, we met the assistant director who shared some interesting facts about the production. One such fact was that the actors were advised not to be a generalised caricature or impression of Maggie or the Queen but to look within themselves, to find how they would portrait that character. The actors did this and were able to truly play the roles rather than presenting a vague impression. The actors playing thatcher tonight were Morag Cross (plays T) and Emma Ernest (playing Mags). Playing our late monarch were Sarah Moyle (playing Q) and Helen Reuben (who plays Liz), they all have great energy with elements of humour, they also manage to stay in character superbly even with a few audience heckles. Casting director, Chloe Bake has done a great job finding these fine actors. In some lights and angles you could easily mistake them for the real thing.
Overall this is an enjoyable show. I didn’t realise how much I missed the queen, and though generally speaking I hated the real-life Margaret Thatcher and all she stood for, but these versions of thatcher were slightly endearing all likely due to having a comedy edge. Both the queens were adorable and looked like the queen’s they were representing. The younger queen having a slight innocence whereas the older queen was more of a battle axe. She looked like she had just jumped out of her Land Rover which we loved. We could just imagine her saying some of her throw away quips and a regular line used was that she ‘loved the horses’ Dennis Herdman plays actor 2 he is a cheeky Chappy who again plays quite a few parts such as Dennis thatcher and a miner and plays the perfect supporting role with perfect comedy timing.
Whether you’re a royalist, a true blue, a tory basher or think the royal family are all spongers, there is something for everyone here. An easy fun night out and you’ll leave wondering ‘Did that really happen!’ Book now via below:
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