Following its current sell-out run in the National Theatre’s Cottesloe space, political comedy This House will find a new larger home at the Olivier theatre next year.
James Graham’s acclaimed 1970s House of Commons-set play will continue its run at the Cottesloe until 1 December before transferring into the Olivier in February with casting yet to be confirmed.
Transforming the Cottesloe space into the infamous engine rooms of Westminster, This House is set in a period when votes are won or lost by one, when there are fist fights in the bars and when sick MPs are carried through the lobby to register their vote, hilariously stripping down the political realities of those behind the scenes.
Directed by Jeremy Herrin, the production stars Mad Dogs and Ashes To Ashes leading man Philip Glenister, who made his National Theatre debut in the production as a charming Labour whip.
The play opened to the press this week with The Guardian’s Michael Billington heralding the production as recapturing the mayhem of Westminster politics “with abundant theatricality, accompanying music and choreographed movement”. The Evening Standard was in agreement in its four star review with critic Henry Hitchings describing the production as: “Visually enjoyable and packed with clever lines, it calls to mind the pin-sharp profanity of The Thick of It while displaying a humane and savvy wit that is very much Graham’s own.”
Tickets for This House’s Olivier run will go on sale next month.