Posh (Oberon Modern Plays)

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Laura Wade’s new play, Pos h, opened in the middle of the election campaign, as intended, as a minor intervention in that process. Set during one evening in the dining room of a rural pub-restaurant, it followed the ‘Riot Club’ in their arcane rituals as they drink and eat to excess and then smash the room up. It’s based loosely on the Bullingdon Club at Oxford, whose former members include the current Mayor of London, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Prime Minister. Any club that produced the three most powerful politicians in England is worth examining and I’ve been looking forward to it. The people I talked to for research did a lot of apologising for the boys' monstrous behaviour, but there was glee just under the surface - a childish delight in their mischief helped by permissive nostalgia from an older generation who can't behave like that any more. Former members or associates always wanted to hear about what was going on and vicarious pleasure shone through their disapproval. I was surprised by how much actual posh people enjoyed Posh on stage. Maybe they recognised something of themselves or their friends in the characters. Some nights there were belly laughs from the premium seats in the stalls at things the audience up in the balcony didn't find funny at all. I still feel the extreme violence that we see in the second act is a bit forced, as if The Lord of the Flies has suddenly entered the world of Evelyn Waugh. And I wish Wade had made the still small voice of conscience, chiefly represented by the club's president, a bit stronger. But, on a second viewing, it becomes clear that Wade's chief target is not just privileged toffs but the cosy network that really runs Britain. London's Lyric Hammersmith to Present World Premiere of Laura Wade's Tipping the Velvet". playbill.com. Playbill. 15 April 2015 . Retrieved 19 April 2015. Where did the idea of Home, I’m Darling – about a modern couple choosing to live the lifestyle and revert to the typical gender roles of the 1950s – come from?

Posh - Laura Wade - Google Books

Riot boys aren't going away. The club and their ilk may sometimes go into hibernation for a while, but the structures are still very much in place for the boys' survival. Not just in politics; 70 per cent of our judges, for example, went to fee-paying schools. Whether you like the look or not, that tailcoat is a tough shell, a suit of armour. The posh boy is a very hardy species. Wade hits a number of nails on the head. She pins down the rage the club's members feel that their country has been stolen from them. She harpoons the masonic nature of much of English life in which self-perpetuating elites offer each other lifelong protection. Yet Wade also suggests that, when the chips are down, the Darwinian instinct for survival triumphs over the comradely ethos. All this is vividly portrayed and applicable to current politics. But the play suffers from showing all 10 members of her fictional club as total shits: for the sake of good drama, one wishes at least one of them displayed some moral qualm about their actions. The play was born what feels like a long time ago now, in 2007, at the Royal Court Theatre; it started as a broader project investigating young people and privilege. The Royal Court is bang in the middle of Chelsea, but the people who live there weren't often represented on that stage - I wanted to know who the kids were that sat out on the Sloane Square theatre steps at night to meet their friends. What were their lives like, beyond the clichés? It felt like uncharted territory. Theatre review: Other Hands at Soho Theatre". Britishtheatreguide.info . Retrieved 26 November 2016.BBC Radio 4 - Afternoon Drama, Looking for Angels, Looking for Angels: Otherkin". Bbc.co.uk. 30 August 2007 . Retrieved 26 November 2016. The Riot Club, a film adaptation of the play, directed by Lone Scherfig, [9] was released in 2014. [10] Reception [ edit ] The core of the piece remains unchanged. It's all about men behaving badly: in this case an elite Oxford dining group, the Riot Club, who meet in a rural gastropub with the principal aim of getting totally smashed – "chateaued", as they call it – and trashing the premises.

Laura Wade | Stage | The Guardian Laura Wade | Stage | The Guardian

Posh Is about a tribe. And like the play, the film - renamed *The Riot Club * - takes us on a night out with a tiny, exclusive dining society at Oxford University, loosely inspired by the Bullingdon boys. They put on their bespoke tails and hold their termly dinner at a country pub with the express intent of trashing the room by the end of the evening and paying for the damage with a large wad of cash on the way out. Throughout the long development process, Lavender adds, Wade kept a close hold on the boys she had created.

Wade returned to the regency period for a new TV series she is developing. She has plans for another play, too, perhaps based around notions of comfort and what it takes to feel comfortable. Theatre has felt like a drug since she first saw an audience laugh at jokes she had written. Now, she wants to watch and write hopeful plays that “help in some way”, she said. “If we want to make people feel capable of changing things, a dose of optimism goes a long way.” Out in the real world (although it's always worth reminding ourselves that the Bullingdon boys didn't get enough votes to govern alone), I wonder if we look at a confident, self-selected group like that and are swayed by their belief that they are the elite: the best people, the right people to lead us. Knowing our own limitations from the inside, we compare what feels like our smallness to their external belief in their own magnificence. Perhaps it's easy to believe that they're better equipped for leadership. We're seduced by their charm: the archetypal posh boy is very charming, particularly when you get them on their own. They can be lovely and polite. And portable: they steer their way through many different social situations with comfort, interest and engagement while being able to conceal what they might really be thinking. And we're also seduced by their humour; just look at Boris Johnson. There's something Elizabethan about people scoring points with wit and fastidious logic rather than truth, but somehow we're taken in. In February 2015 the regional premiere was co-produced by Nottingham Playhouse and Salisbury Playhouse, directed by Susannah Tresilian. [8] Film adaptation [ edit ] Theatre review: Breathing Corpses at Royal Court Theatre Upstairs". Britishtheatreguide.info . Retrieved 26 November 2016.

Posh (play) - Wikipedia

Disney+ Reveals New Original Series "Rivals", an Outrageously Bold Eight-Part Saga Full of Power, Betrayal and Romance, Based on Jilly Cooper's Iconic Novel". West, like Wade, has earned a radical reputation due to his outspoken comments about politics and arts funding. Their new daughter joins what some would call an acting dynasty as the grandchild of Prunella Scales and Timothy West. Samuel, however, says the Wests are a family business and not a dynasty. Whatever the West legacy, there is a tradition of political activism. Three years ago, at 76, Grandfather West demonstrated against tax avoidance, urged on by Scales. Brian Cox and Bill Paterson return to Lyceum for 50th anniversary season". list.co.uk. The List. 14 April 2015 . Retrieved 19 April 2015. Whoever called a truce on class warfare may have to think again with the release of The Riot Club. Wade is sure the topic is a draw for an audience. "We love watching rich people behave badly. It has a sort of grisly fascination." On 4 July 2018, Wade's play Home, I'm Darling premiered at Theatr Clwyd. It was directed by Tamara Harvey, and starred Katherine Parkinson. [13] The play transferred to the National Theatre for a summer 2018 run, [14] to the Duke of York's Theatre in January 2019, [15] and later won Best Comedy at the 2019 Laurence Olivier Awards. [16]

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The Royal Court Theatre production opened during the 2010 United Kingdom general election campaign and garnered much attention for its timely portrayal of an Oxford University dining club which might be seen as a parody of the real life Bullingdon Club. A number of prominent Conservative politicians have been members of the Bullingdon, including David Cameron, George Osborne and Boris Johnson.