The King and I…at MEGA, the play
Yours truly with ‘King Charles III’, Clive Greenwood, doing the royal wave. The actor, who has a day job at the Globe, plays the monarch in Francis Beckett’s Make England Great Again
The cast of Make England Great Again. Photos: Rashmee Roshan Lall
Silas Hawkins as Max Moore, leader of the Britons First Party
Watching Francis Beckett’s new play, Make England Great Again, a thought arises: This is not mega so much as a kinda bolshie Britain in a minor key.
This is a Trump-style American insurrection but more understated.
Max Moore, leader of the Britons First Party, is modelled on Nigel Farage. But let’s face it, Nigel Farage is a poor man’s Donald Trump.
He works within the relatively small-scale parameters of the British system and it doesn’t seem to be about big bangs. It’s about pinpricks.
That said, the play’s fictional Mr Moore wants to bring about wholesale change.
First, he takes the British monarch by surprise by dissolving parliament all by himself, without so much as a royal by-your-leave.
He announces another election just six days after winning the last one. This, because Britons First hadn’t won an absolute majority and the party doesn’t want to haggle with others and compromise on its agenda.
As it happens, Britons First loses the new election but Max Moore refuses to bow out. King Charles III, played by actor Clive Greenwood, says Mr Moore must stand down as prime minister. He refuses, alleging electoral irregularities in 18 constituencies. (The other party has a 17-seat majority. Go figure.)
“Aren’t you a constitutional monarch?” Max Moore asks King Charles III. The royal affirmative is countered with a vaguely threatening recommendation from ‘Prime Minister’ Moore that the king agree to everything suggested by his current first minister.
Eventually, we see a Britain totally in the grip of the new populists. Opposition politicians, judges and constitutional law experts are in prison. It’s hard to say what the future holds.
Nothing good…on current form.
It’s chilling.
