Overview

It's late summer, 1983. Out in the street, the world is waiting to greet Margaret Thatcher as she emerges from hospital after routine surgery. But here in this room her life is up for deadly debate… and history is holding its breath. Two people. One window. A gun. When the time comes to pull the trigger, what side of history will you be on? Based on the incendiary short story by Hilary Mantel, The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher is a darkly funny and dangerously tense psychological thriller. Alexandra Wood's stage adaptation was first performed at Liverpool Everyman in 2026, directed by John Young.  'A small triumph: a lesson in artfully controlled savagery' Sunday Times on Hilary Mantel's original short story 'Provocative, powerful theatre... Alexandra Wood has the sensitivity to leave Mantel's laugh lines just as they are, but also the imagination to dramatise the story's politics... springs into theatrical life... the playwright carves out space to explore the ramifications of Mantel's story... a bold and provocative adaptation' — Guardian 'A timely reflection on political violence... a nuanced adaptation that raises thorny questions about extremism' — Telegraph 'Incendiary... darkly funny... gasp-inducing... explosive' — Independent

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9781839045585

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Reviews

'Provocative, powerful theatre... Alexandra Wood has the sensitivity to leave Mantel's laugh lines just as they are, but also the imagination to dramatise the story's politics... springs into theatrical life... the playwright carves out space to explore the ramifications of Mantel's story... a bold and provocative adaptation' * Guardian * 'A timely reflection on political violence... a nuanced adaptation that raises thorny questions about extremism' * Telegraph * 'Incendiary... darkly funny... gasp-inducing... explosive' * Independent *

Author Information

Hilary Mantel (1952-2022) was an English novelist, regarded as one of the greatest of her time. She was the first woman and the first British author to win the Booker Prize twice, for Wolf Hall and its sequel, Bring Up the Bodies, which also won the 2012 Costa Book of the Year. The conclusion to her ground-breaking Wolf Hall Trilogy, The Mirror & the Light, was published in 2020 to huge critical acclaim and was longlisted for the Booker Prize. Mantel was the author of fourteen novels, two books of short fiction, a memoir and a book of essays, Mantel Pieces. She was appointed DBE and a Companion of Literature, and her work has been translated into thirty-six languages. Alexandra Wood is a UK playwright whose plays include: The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher, based on the story by Hilary Mantel (Liverpool Everyman, 2026); an adaptation of Kate Summerscale's The Suspicions of Mr Whicher (Watermill Theatre, 2023); The Tyler Sisters (Hampstead Theatre, 2019); The Human Ear (Paines Plough, 2015); Ages (Old Vic New Voices); an English version of Manfred Karge's Man to Man (Wales Millennium Centre); Merit (Theatre Royal Plymouth, 2015); The Initiate (Paines Plough, 2014; winner of Scotsman Fringe First); an adaptation of Jung Chang's Wild Swans (ART/Young Vic); The Empty Quarter (Hampstead Theatre, 2013); The Centre (Islington Community Theatre); Decade (co-writer, Headlong); Unbroken (Gate Theatre, London, 2009); The Lion's Mouth (Royal Court Rough Cuts); The Eleventh Capital (Royal Court Theatre, London, 2007) and the radio play Twelve Years (BBC Radio 4). She is a winner of the George Devine Award (for The Eleventh Capital) and was the Big Room Playwright-in-residence at Paines Plough in 2013. Author photo by YellowBelly Photo

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