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James Graham’s Labour of Love is an acclaimed political comedy drama which premiered in 2017. It covers the dynamics and history of the British Labour Party through the relationship between New Labour and the old guard focussing on the relationship between MP David Lyons (played by Liam Stewart) and his constituency agent, Jean Whittaker (Helen McGill).
The action starts and ends in 2017. We are swung back in time in various periods right back to 1990 through a clever use of multimedia (Sound design by Feiyang Yang and Video Design by Harry Tomlin) and each time point provides further development of the complex relationship between David and Jean. It must be incredibly difficult to show the development of a relationship moving backwards through time, but this was ably achieved. The characters were sincere and believable, and Liam Stewart and Helen McGill put in excellent performances and managed to keep the rather dense text of the play pressing forward. There’s also a barbed wit in their exchanges: when David pointedly asks Jean why the reformers chose a rose to rebrand Labour, she quickly replies: “Because it looks pretty but it’s full of pricks?”
The second half works forward again. Each scene explains what has gone on before. It’s really a rather engaging and clever script. A lot of small details reminds us of the complexities of the times - MPs’ expenses being represented by the ‘gold bath plug’.
We never see David Lyons in his prime as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. We see a young man full of hope and a middle-aged man perhaps full of realism and much in between. He’s likeable and warm. Jean is a stalwart. She’s tough and vulnerable all at once.
There were engaging performances by Matthew Ibbotson as the flugelhorn playing inflexible left winger, Len, and Sophie Platts-Martin as Elizabeth, Lyons’ upwardly mobile lawyer wife, a character out of place among the others, perhaps.
A comic highlight was provided by Chaachi Deane as Margot and the subtly hilarious James Taverner as Mr Shen.
The staging was excellent with set design by Phillip Ley. A huge attention to detail had gone into the props setting the scene for the different time periods. With so many changes this could have gone wrong. But it did not. The changes of set details were ably and slickly carried out under the stage management of Roanne Insley so we knew exactly when we were. Alexa Wall’s management of the hair and make-up (the swiftly increasing and decreasing hairline of David Lyons) was superb.
Simona Hughes has directed an excellent production.
Photography by Giulia Paratelli
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