Handbagged – Wolverhampton Grand Theatre
I overhear the couple behind me, probably in their twenties. One says, “Did you get the references?” the other replies, “I’ve seen ‘The Crown’ so I get the gist…” I suddenly feel very old and the details of Moira Buffini’s play, which were once at the political forefront for all of us over fifty, seem strangely distant and tepid. The Miner’s Strike and Section 28, once viscerally crucial, are thrown into quaint relief by the Trumpian carnival currently erupting across the water. What was once breaking news is now the fading past. Those of us who got the references - and the play is stuffed with them; Heseltine’s hair, Howe’s dullness - are happily served but what of the pair behind me?
“Handbagged” appeared in its full form in 2014 within living memory of the events portrayed and only j...
