'HANDBAGGED' - UK TOUR REVIEW ***

Last night, I had the pleasure of being invited to review Moira Buffini’s ‘Handbagged’ at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, as part of its UK Tour.

‘Handbagged’ is a satirical comedy play that follows Margaret Thatcher’s terms as Prime Minister through her eyes, as well as the eyes of Queen Elizabeth II. We follow the pair, as their older and younger selves retell the story, accompanied by a host of characters from their lives. 

This is a Theatre Nation Partnerships Production, produced by Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch.

The writing of this play is clever. The comedy is fun, and as a whole, it works well. From the snappy one-liners to the intentional fourth wall breaking, it really is a show that will get you laughing if political humour is your cup of tea! There is a question of where satire draws the line, but personally, I found this amusing, though there was a mixture of different giggles and groans from the audience at the Yvonne Arnaud. Overall, though, Moira Buffini’s script is undoubtedly amusing and makes for a great laugh. 

Direction by Alex Thorpe was amazing and gave a nice aesthetic to the play. The duos of Thatcher and The Queen were utilised well, using the ridge of the pound coin-shaped set. The set design was by Katie Lias and was composed of two large pound coins, one was the old circular one with a silhouette of the younger Queen Elizabeth. Whilst the other was one of the new pound coins with a silhouette of the older Queen.

Casting was strong with this production. Every member of the cast gave amazing performances.

Morag Cross starts the show as the older Margaret Thatcher, ‘T’. The cold and stern Iron Lady. Without this review becoming overly political, she made Thatcher human, giving a reason for the things she did, and Cross’s performance reflects her character's thoughts as a person and gives a nice perspective.

Younger Thatcher ‘Mags’ was played by Emma Ernest, who brought a greater edge of coldness to the character; her speeches were passionate and brilliantly executed. 

Queen Elizabeth II is first seen in her “older” form, ‘Q’, played by Sarah Moyle. I think Moyle is the funniest performer in this play - not only does Buffini write Queen Elizabeth’s older counterpart some hilariously funny moments and lines. Moyle pulls these off with immense comedic timing and energy that you can’t help but chuckle at.

Her younger self, ‘Liz’ is played by Helen Reuben, who plays her role with charm, keeping her calm and collected in the face of the crises she faces throughout the play. 

It is worth noting that the four portrayals of Queen Elizabeth II and Margaret Thatcher did not feel at all like a caricature but rather an honest and slightly exaggerated version of the people they were playing. I was fond of this decision by the performers and presumably, the director too. It makes the play more watchable and enjoyable, in my opinion. 

The remainder of the roles were played by Dennis Herdman and Cassius Konneh.

Making up this small cast of just six players. This pairing played a huge amount of roles throughout the play. These felt more caricature-esque as they were playing so many it needed differentiation of the characters which we absolutely did see! 

Unfortunately, for me, the pace of the show seemed laboured - Particularly within the first act, I felt that it didn’t progress much and felt rather slow. This was better in Act 2 than it was in Act 1, where I felt that either the pace could have been sped up, or some unnecessary sections of the script could have been cut.

I also was not keen on the inclusion of pop songs in the performance. This is not a musical, it isn’t really a play with music either and yet for some transitions the cast were singing numbers such as ‘Mr Blue Sky’ and ‘We are Family’. To me, these felt shoehorned in and I am really not sure what resonance they have with the piece. I believe that a better choice would have been to have just instrumental or something alike that for the transitions between scenes. 

Overall, I do believe that this play has promise, it has some delightful moments and is particularly enjoyable with its political humour and larger-than-life political characters. It’s laboured pace and inclusion of songs are things that personally didn’t work for me, but I think that the production is a good watch if you’re interested in a comedy satire play about Margaret Thatcher and Queen Elizabeth II.

If you’d like to see it in Guildford you can find it at the Yvonne Arnaud theatre until Saturday 10th May, 

There are still a few venues left including Northern Stage - So see it whilst you can, with more information here.

8th May 2025

Robbie Davies