A smouldering play about escaping the past, seizing the present and owning the future.
2nd May 1997. An historic victory. The Tories, eighteen years in power, are defeated as New Labour sweeps into government. From the euphoria and despair, three deeply personal stories emerge.
Tory MP Robert prepares to attend the count. With defeat looming large, he fears becoming a forgotten man, while his wife Marie counts the cost of her own sacrifice to politics. Lib Dem footsoldier Ian is no hero, but party-crasher Sarah is determined to make him one. Best mates Jake and Will wake up with a new world order to memorise before their A-level Politics class. Jake dreams of Number 10. Will dreams of Jake.
Jack Thorne’s play 2nd May 1997 was first performed at the Bush Theatre, London, in September 2009 in a co-production with nabokov theatre company, in association with Watford Palace Theatre and Mercury Theatre Colchester.
‘Rising playwright Jack Thorne takes us back in time with such quiet profundity and verve you get a burst of inspiration to match the uplift of those distant days’
— Telegraph
‘Richly rewarding… playwright Jack Thorne elegantly refracts the early hours of Blair through three very different relationships… A superb 90 minutes’
— Evening Standard
