Mine’s a Double
By Gareth Stevens
Whiskey and Soda, a new play by Ben Randall who currently lives in Peasmarsh, is set in December of 1979 at the British Embassy in Washington DC. It is the eve of Margaret Thatcher’s now famous first speech at The White House. Over fifty Americans were still being held hostage in the US embassy in Tehran and, only six months into her premiership, Thatcher was keen to support Carter in his attempts to find a solution to this crisis.
But this work does not focus on political events – at least not directly. It imagines a private meeting between Thatcher and John Lennon in which she makes him an offer to lure him back to his homeland. I can find no evidence this meeting actually took place, and so ascribe it to an incredible leap of the imagination on Randall’s part.
When I heard that the play would be exclusively performed by two actors – both depicting global historical icons – I became slightly anxious. For me theatre always requires a more intense will to suspend disbelief than say film, so if either players’ portrayal was awkward or inauthentic then the whole edifice would inevitably crumble. I was happy that my creeping circumspection was unwarranted.
Sara Nower (Thatcher) and Peter Miller (Lennon) both inhabited the roles effortlessly and convincingly. Miller captured Lennon’s barbed yet playful irreverence so well and Nower the formality and aloofness of Thatcher. Lennon insists on calling Thatcher ‘Marjie’ throughout the play, whilst she refers to him exclusively as Mr Lennon.
Randall’s writing is a taut yet expertly crafted weave of humour and gravitas within what can be seen as almost a Socratic dialogue between a radical liberal (although Lennon’s character refers to himself as an anarchist) and a hardened Tory – indeed the original ‘Thatcherite’.
Although poles apart ideologically – the conversation does become heated at times – there is a growing undercurrent of warmth, almost intimacy, between Lennon and Thatcher as the play progresses. Perhaps the most poignant element is that both parties listen to each other – there is no shutting down and the cut and thrust debate is tinged with mutual respect and hilarity. A far cry from Twitter, and a laudable theatrical antidote to online caterwauling.
The pair discuss many fundamental questions – the pros and cons of meritocracy, the existence of God, the benefits of therapy. At one point Lennon insists that Thatcher experience primal scream therapy; at another they discuss the untimely demise of JFK. Lennon asserts that he reached a mythic status as a direct result of his early and violent death. This is the most touching part of the play for me as Randall deftly connotes Lennon’s murder and Thatcher’s inexorable descent into dementia.
Whilst most of the play is dialogue, each character performs a monologue to the audience.
In hers, Thatcher ponders her relationships with her mother and sister and an early dalliance with smoking. Lennon recounts his terrifying experience during a storm-plagued sailing trip in the Caribbean. When all seemed lost and the skipper was forced to take a sleep break, Lennon was tied to the helm and left in charge.
I am still reeling from the experience of this play. The pure intelligence needed to write such a multi-layered piece which is based on such an unlikely, almost absurd, premise is inestimable. It would stand up if only considered as a comedy – but goes way beyond that. Both actors were superb – the casting decisions were arguably the most important ones made during the play’s development.
• Whisky and Soda played at the Stables Theatre on 19 and 20 July, and was directed by Jane Richardson.
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