“A well written and performed play that any fan of 1970s/80s Labour politics will love.”
The Gang of Three is the newest play written by duo Robert Khan and Tom Salinksy, and details the tumultuous professional relationship between three leading members of the Labour party as they jockey for power in the 1970s/80s. This follows previous successful runs of politics themed shows written by the duo including Brexit and Coalition, but on this occasion we are looking back in time to the previous century where the decisions made and not made have ramifications that can be seen across the decades.
I will admit now to not being familiar at all with Roy Jenkins, Denis Healey and Tony Crosland, the three Labour politicians that feature in this show played by Hywel Morgan, Colin Tierney, and Alan Cox respectably, and so I am unable to comment on how well their likeness or mannerisms are presented on the stage. I can say however that all 3 actors gave strong performances. The script can most definitely be described as verbose, as one would imagine is typical of how 3 Oxford graduates from the 1900s would speak, and all 3 actors bring a lightness and great variety to their portrayals. Colin Tierney as Denis Healey is a stand-out and ups the energy once he appears in the second scene, and the scenes that involved him always felt fresher and more exciting than those that did not.
There is no real getting around the fact that if you are not already familiar with Labour party politics of the 1970s/80s, then there will definitely be jokes and references that you will miss. I only know that I was missing these instances by the laughs of others in the room who had greater knowledge of this period. With a less forgiving or involved audience this could lead to some of the lines falling flat and seeming out of place, as if you don’t know that they are referencing something then the lines just come off a bit clunky. Any lack of knowledge of this period of history however, does not mean that you won’t be able to follow the plot. The show makes good use of newscaster voice overs to provide details and context for the conversations taking place, so there is no pre-reading required to be able to understand.
The script is most certainly witty with clever and funny lines smattered throughout and is in-keeping of the classic genre of play with smart men talking in rooms and setting the world to rights. Each scene is given suitable time to breathe with peaks and troughs that keep you on your toes. One slightly puzzling scene however takes us back in time to 1940 with 2 of the characters at university where we explore their surprising romantic history. This gave interesting extra context and intrigue for the previous scenes, and added greater emotional death to one of the later scenes, but it did feel ever so slightly out of place. This could have been expanded upon further with more scenes showing the earlier relationships between these men and how this impacted their political decision making in the future, but just having one scene that does this felt incongruous.
While this play is set in the 20th century, it was written and is being performed in the 21st century, and I am unsure what it has to offer to a modern audience. If this is something you lived through it is an opportunity to look back at a dramatic retelling of possible behind the curtain events. This show felt like it was striving for a greater point but I don’t think it ever actually got there and at times the characters all just come across as tone deaf and deeply unlikeable. This is perhaps intentional, but if so I struggle to find what it is that the audience is meant to grab onto or take away from this show.
In conclusion, this is a well written and well performed play, but unless you are already familiar with the subject matter you will feel like there is something deeper being said that you are missing out on.
The Gang of Three is playing at the Kings Head Theatre until 1st June. Tickets are available here.