Handbagged headed to Salisbury, York and Oldham
Published: 21 February 2019
A new production of Moira Buffini’s biting satire Handbagged, a co-production between Wiltshire Creative, Oldham Coliseum Theatre and York Theatre Royal, opens at Salisbury Playhouse April 4–20.
Susan Penhaligon (The Importance of Being Earnest UK tour, 2018; Bouquet of Barbed Wire and A Fine Romance, both ITV) plays The Queen and Sarah Crowden (Grantchester, ITV; The Chalk Garden, Chichester Festival Theatre) plays Margaret Thatcher.
Caroline Harker (The Chalk Garden, Chichester Festival Theatre; Middlemarch, BBC) plays a younger version of the Queen and Eve Matheson (May to December, BBC; Coram Boy, Royal National Theatre) plays a younger Margaret Thatcher.
The cast is completed by Jahvel Hall (Astro Babies, Ovalhouse Theatre) and Andy Secombe (Killing Eve, BBC; Star Wars) who between them play a range of familiar characters including Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Gerry Adams, Arthur Scargill and the Duke of Edinburgh.
The play imagines what might have happened at the Queen’s weekly meetings with Margaret Thatcher while Thatcher was Prime Minister.
It tours to York Theatre Royal from April 24 to May 11, after which it will be at Oldham Coliseum from May 14 to June 1.