TRUE BLUE

A MUSICAL ABOUT MARGARET THATCHER

‘The one trait common to all great women is the will to be ruthless.’

So says Margaret Thatcher, the ambitious blonde heroine of the musical TRUE BLUE;  a blue-blooded fairytale turned tragedy written by Chris Roberts and David Fernandes, with music by Eldred Stevenson. Some of the score is influenced by songs of the period yet references traditional music hall conventions, there is no cheap 80s revivalism here, but there is a cast thatincludes Ronald Reagan and Norman Tebbit singing such diverse and fantastic numbers as the gospel-inspired "Eyes like Caligula", the triumphalist anthem  "F**k The North" (that’s stuff the north in the matinee version), and the upbeat funk-soul "Gotcha!".

TRUE BLUE is a story of ambition, power, love and politics that could be set at any time and one of the goals of True Blue is to pare back this epic tale to its basics so that there was no need to have lived through the 1980s in Britain to either understand or appreciate the story. After all no one demands that Shakespeare be presented by men wearing ruffs, likewise there is no need for leg warmers to feature in a a musical about Margaret Thatcher. TRUE BLUE uses the medium of the musical to explore the motivation of the key players in the struggle; Margaret herself, her blonde rival Michael Heseltine and erstwhile ally Geoffrey Howe.

The idea for True Blue came to Chris in 2004 and one good early omen was the discovery that the combination of Roberts & Stevenson (on the songs) was the same coupling of names that brought the lady into the world in the first place. And Fernandes? Well his family are originally from Madeira the island in the Atlantic where the Thatchers spent their honeymoon and where coincidentally Chris found himself sharing a hotel with them in 2002.

As much as is possible for intelligent kind hearted people, the tone is non polemical and attempts to present her years in power in a balanced light. The play was first workshopped with a cast of young inner city actors none of whom had started primary school when Margaret left office. As such they have no baggage from the time and also they came to the story as a piece of drama rather than something that they actually lived through. This allows the audience to detach from their own memories of the time and concentrate on the story as it unfolds in front of them onstage. Regardless of historical trappings of the Thatcher years there is a powerful universal story in there about adversity, power, ambition and rivalries. There is also room for love, reflection and the sad realisation that sometimes even winning is not enough. True Blue pares back the cast of thousands to concentrate on the key players who drive the drama.

The action starts in the blood and thunder of the 1979 election campaign where over the chaos and strife Margaret is elected and promises harmony. How successful she is in this might be judged by the first act songs that include the traditional cockney aire "No such thing as society" and ends with Margaret alone onstage after the Brighton Bombing belting out the emotional "Day I wasn’t meant to see".

Act two opens with a different solitary figure on the stage -a miner's wife- singing of the sorrow and her loss at "Bersham Fields". With the economy booming and foreign affairs going swimmingly Margaret and her ally Ronnie really believe that "Together they can do the greatest things" until the dramatic events of 1990 start with the Poll Tax riots and culminate in her political assassination. This leaves an altogether madder Margaret alone, carping vicious by turns contemptuous and pitiful but "She’s still a lady, an Iron lady".