It’s now or never for George Jones. The charismatic leader of the Labour Party needs to get out of opposition and into Number Ten.
Plagued by a hostile media, beset by divisions in his party and haunted by his own demons, George has three weeks to convince the Great British Public that he’s their man. But how much compromise is he prepared to make? How can you truly appeal to the man in the street from the House of Commons? And which tie should he wear for Prime Minister’s Questions?
Hare’s play strikes for realism and the rest of the cast members – especially James Harkness as Andrew Buchan and Ameira Darwish as Mary Housego – play their characters with precision.
Given everything that has happened in UK politics in the two decades since Hare's play first appeared, what follows now looks like a final fanfare for the common man who has been replaced by the business of bad management.
Certainly worth a trip to the ballot box – eh, theatre – to see.
James Harkness--The Absence of War
David Hare--The Absence of War
Citizens' Theatre, Glasgow from Tuesday March 31, 2015, until Saturday April 4, 2015. More info: www.citz.co.uk