Even before Boris Johnson became prime minister, there were several stage and TV dramas about him. That vivid actability has been cited by commentators as a clear contrast with the markedly less dramatic David Cameron and Theresa May, the Tory PM predecessors Johnson sped from office.

Bloody Difficult Women
Riverside Studios, London

Even before Boris Johnson became prime minister, there were several stage and TV dramas about him. That vivid actability has been cited by commentators as a clear contrast with the markedly less dramatic David Cameron and Theresa May, the Tory PM predecessors Johnson sped from office.

May’s interview claim that her biggest sin was running through a wheat field as a child further highlights the challenge that a biographical drama poses, but in this play the journalist Tim Walker creates an enjoyable piece by making her first among three equal characters. The others are Gina Miller, the businesswoman who funded a 2016 legal challenge to May’s attempt to trigger Article 50 (starting Brexit) without parliamentary consent; and Paul Dacre, then editor of the Daily Mail (now editor-in-chief) who used his newspaper to back May and barrack Miller.

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