Make England Great Again
CONTROVERSIAL NEW PLAY SHOWS HOW FAR RIGHT DICTATORSHIP COULD HAPPEN IN THE UK
With Tommy Robinson’s demonstration on Saturday attracting more than 100,000 people, and Donald Trump due in London for a state visit on Tuesday, a new play asks: how could a far right authoritarian government come to power in Britain – and what would it do?
Make England Great Again is set after a future general election won by the Britons First Party, whose charismatic leader Max Moore becomes Prime Minister. It opens at Upstairs at the Gatehouse in Highgate Village on September 30.
Moore does not have an overall majority in Parliament. “The electorate slipped up there” he tells King Charles III. The other parties “want to use Parliament to frustrate the will of the people.”
The King reluctantly agrees to call another election, and tries to hold back the authoritarian tide. Can Max Moore get the majority he needs to bypass Parliament, sideline the courts, silence the media, and rule by decree?
“What’s happening in the US, Russia and other countries, what happened in Germany and Italy in the 1930s, could happen here. Anyone who thinks it couldn’t is living in a fool’s paradise. Make England Great Again is a comedy and a warning” says writer Francis Beckett.
Beckett’s last two plays – A Modest Little Man, about Clement Atlee, and Vodka with Stalin – had successful runs at the same theatre. His father John Beckett was Oswald Mosley’s propaganda chief in the 1930s, and Francis Beckett researched British fascism for a book, Fascist in the Family. The character of Max Moore is based partly on Mosley, and partly on more modern political figures.
Make England Great Again is directed by theatre director and actor trainer Owain Rose, who directed Beckett’s previous two successful plays at Upstairs at the Gatehouse – A Modest Little Man and Vodka with Stalin.
ENDS
PICTURES
Rehearsal pictures attached – please credit photographer Mark Thomas.
Left-right: Clive Greenwood as King Charles 111 and Silas Hawkins as Max Moore.
Left-right: Abi Haberfield as political adviser Samantha, and Miranda Colmans as Leader of the Opposition Pam Jones.
NOTES FOR EDITORS
Make England Great Again will be at Upstairs at the Gatehouse in Highgate Village for two weeks, from 30 September to 5 October, and again from 14-19 October, Tuesday-Saturday at 7.30 pm. Sunday at 4 pm.
Tickets from www.upstairsatthegatehouse.com, phone 020 8340 3488, or in person at the box office.
Press night is 30 September at 7.30 pm.
Media contacts for information and media tickets are:
Francis Beckett 07813 001372 email francis [@] francisbeckett.co.uk
Annlouise Butt (for Upstairs at the Gatehouse) 020 8340 4256 email annlouise [@] chromolume.co.uk.
Writer, director and actors are available for interview.
