Sheep magazine Archive 2: issues 10-17

Howe was Thatcher’s chancellor and foreign secretary. People thought he
was a comically bad public speaker, hence the play’s title: “Being attacked
by Geoffrey Howe,” said Labour’s Denis Healey, “is like being savaged
by a dead sheep.” But when Howe and Thatcher fell out over Europe, he
made one of the greatest political speeches of all time. It destroyed her.
He was supported by his wife, Elspeth, a formidable woman who loathed
Thatcher. And vice versa: an observer called them “wasps in a jam jar”.
So I ignored John. If I don’t write it, I thought, one day someone else will.
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There was another wind at my back. The more I researched, the more
struck I became by the parallels. In the 1980s, when the play is set,
the Tories were divided over Europe. In April 2015, when Dead Sheep
premiered at London’s Park theatre, the song remained the same. Then
as now, it was about sovereignty, identity and economics.
That gave me opportunities. Hence a scene in which a louche,
Eurosceptic Alan Clark berates Geoffrey over his support for the EU.
Geoffrey warns Alan the Tory party could split in two over the issue.
“What?” sneers Clark. “A breakaway party for Eurosceptics? Don’t be
ridiculous.” Not a screamer on the page perhaps but on stage it got
laughs every night.
We were offered a three-month national tour after the run at the Park
and, after a succession of failures (I’ve had more TV ideas turned down
than Alan Partridge) I felt lucky for once. Then, in June this year, the cards
fell totally in the play’s favour.
SHEEP IN THE ROAD : NUMBER 15