Martin Jarvis OBE and Clare Bloomer will star as political titans Sir Edward Heath and Margaret Thatcher in the West End premiere of political comedy Maggie & Ted running from 28th June – 29th June at the Garrick Theatre.
Written by playwright and author Michael McManus, who worked for both protagonists and who researched and edited Sir Edward Heath’s biography, The Course of My Life (1998), as well as writing another biography on him, A Singular Life (2016).
He explains: “I knew both Sir Edward “Ted” Heath and Baroness Thatcher – and I seek to represent them in this play, not as pastiche or as parody, but as they really were. They both had their flaws, of course, but they could also both be very funny, deeply impressive and also very kind and considerate. It is a great honour – both daunting and exhilarating – to have written the first new, political play to make its West End début since the beginning of the pandemic.”
Maggie & Ted is a highly acclaimed comedy-drama which lifts the lid on the rivalry between two formidable political figures from the same party. The West End début follows a hugely successful sell-out run at the White Bear Theatre in Kennington in 2019 and is the first political play to debut in the West End post lockdown.
For over 20 years, the running battle between Margaret Thatcher and Sir Edward Heath both enthralled and appalled the British public. The Heath-Thatcher split was one of the premier dramas in town – and it was pure theatre – a perfect mixture of comedy and tragedy.
Everyone who lived through those times has his or her own theory about why that public feud happened, and how it might have been avoided, but no one has ever explored the matter on a theatrical stage, with the avowed intention of allowing (and indeed informing and enabling) members of the audience to make their own judgements. Until now.
Maggie and Ted were working-class warriors who became an extraordinary double-act. Thatcher served in Ted Heath’s government from 1970 – 1974 before challenging Heath and defeating him in the Conservative Party leadership election to become Leader of the Opposition.
She went on to win the 1979 General Election and was the first woman to lead a major political party in the United Kingdom. Heath returned to the backbench where his bitter 25-year feud with her became known as “the incredible sulk”; he became one of the greatest critics of Thatcherism.
The bitter, hilarious feud between these colossal personalities opened up the schism over Europe that divided party and nation – and ultimately led to Brexit. The play shines an intense and sometimes uproariously funny light on Maggie and Ted and the Birth of Brexit. Helped by a supporting cast of characters including Sir Winston Churchill, Harold Wilson, Tony Benn, Denis Healey, Roy Jenkins – and even Boris!
