Lesson Plans

This House by James Graham

Each issue of D&T we bring you a teachers' guide to a play for study with your students, written by a fellow teacher. This issue, Nicholas Holden introduces This House, a dramatic adaptation of British politics in the ‘70s
 Ed Hughes, David Hounslow & company in This House at Chichester Festival Theatre
Ed Hughes, David Hounslow & company in This House at Chichester Festival Theatre - JOHAN PERSSON

How can a play about 1970s UK politics speak so forcefully to the Westminster of today? James Graham's This House takes us back to pre-Thatcherite Britain to issue a stark reminder of the past as we look to reshape our future.

Since his professional debut in 2005, James Graham has established himself as one of the country's most astute political playwrights. With his work now traversing film, television and theatre, Graham's unique ability to precisely translate the complex and often bizarre world of UK politics for a popular audience sees his plays well suited for classroom study.

This House, Graham's 2012 play for the National Theatre, is no exception. The play's original production recreated the familiar banked seating of the House of Commons, though much of the action is located in the shadows of this iconic setting, with the so-called engine rooms of party politics – the Whip Offices of the Labour and Conservative parties – providing the backdrop for much of the action.

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