Moira Buffini’s 2010 one-act play has been reimagined, enlarged and given just a touch of an ‘80s soundtrack (which HAS to be an added attraction, right?) for a new tour that brings an even sharper edge to its scalpel-like dissection of the relationship between our late Queen Elizabeth and Margaret Thatcher (Prime Minister for eleven inglorious years, 1979-1990). It centres round the weekly audience the British monarch enjoys with their chief minister, just proffering a chatty round-up of events over tea and a biccie, and while the practice must have seen a multitude of discreetly-handled personality clashes, Queenie and Thatcher posed a notoriously awkward combination. But wait – in case this sounds like a fly-on-the-wall documentary, it brings a Surreal note to the proceedings by casting two actresses in each main role, as the ladies were in 1990 and also as their younger selves, Liz and Mags (with the two selves often in conversation about what really happened. When Liz asks what films Ronald Reagan appeared in and remembers enjoying “Cattle Queen of Montana”, the Queen drily comments “you liked the horses.”) And yes, Reagan turns up too, along with a supporting cast of Prince Philip, Nancy Reagan, Neil Kinnock, Denis Thatcher etc., all played by two multi-purpose butlers who step out of character to argue who gets to take which role. (“It says in my contract I don’t have to do Enoch Powell.” “You just want to do Arthur Scargill.”) Fiercely witty and reasonably even-handed (both ladies are saddled with husbands of decidedly limited discretion) this wasn’t just well-observed satire but also laugh out loud stagecraft. When, after the interval, the two queens entered at the back of the theatre and walked down shaking hands with members of the audience and chatting with gracious good humour (“And have you come far?”) it felt worryingly like the real thing – only much jollier and possibly with even more handbagging.

Gail-Nina Anderson