James Graham’s critically acclaimed and prescient political drama This House which played to sold-out houses at the National Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre and in the West End will begin its first ever national tour at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds 22 February – 10 March 2018.
In This House, directed by Jeremy Herrin, its 1974 and the UK faces economic crisis and a hung parliament. In a culture hostile to cooperation, it’s a period when votes are won or lost by one, when there are fist fights in the bars and when sick MPs are carried through the lobby to register their vote. It’s a time when a staggering number of politicians die, and the building creaks under idiosyncrasies and arcane traditions.
Set in the engine rooms of Westminster, This House strips politics down to the practical realities of those behind the scenes; the whips who roll up their sleeves and on occasion bend the rules to shepherd and coerce a diverse chorus of MPs within the Mother of all Parliaments.
James Graham won the Pearson Playwriting Bursary in 2006 and went on to win the Catherine Johnson Award for Best Play of 2007 for Eden’s Empire. Jeremy Herrin is Artistic Director of Headlong, and will direct James Graham’s new play Labour of Love, a Headlong and Michael Grandage Company co-production, opening in the West End in September.
This House is produced on tour by Jonathan Church Productions and Headlong.
Tour Dates
West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds (22 February – 10 March 2018) Cambridge Arts Theatre (12 – 17 March), Theatre Royal Bath (19 – 24 March), Edinburgh Festival Theatre (27 – 31 March), Nottingham Theatre Royal (10 – 14 April), Birmingham Repertory Theatre (16 – 21 April), The Lowry, Salford (24 – 28 April), Theatre Royal Plymouth (1 – 5 May), Norwich Theatre Royal (7 – 12 May), Malvern Theatres (14 – 19 May), Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford (21 – 26 May) and Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield (29 May – 2 June). The tour is supported by the Arts Council of England Grants for the Arts.
