Limehouse

Imagining the 1981 "gang of four" Limehouse summit

In this timely political drama that eerily parodies the current schisms in the Labour Party, Olivier Award-winner Roger Allam leads a stellar cast that takes us to the human side of the career politician. Set in 1981, this play is written by Steve Waters and directed by Polly Findlay and explores the hard choices considered by disgruntled politicians. Allam is joined by Tom Goodman-Hill, Nathalie Armin, Paul Chahidi and Debra Gillett, in this historically based drama that shook the Labour Party to the core and exploded onto the news cycle.

Set behind closed doors in a nondescript house in Limehouse in 1981, four prominent Labour MPs, Bill Rodgers, Shirley Williams, Roy Jenkins and David Owen meet to discuss the formation of a new political party, the SDP. Dubbed as a "council for social democracy", the so-called Limehouse Declaration was made following a vote that gave unions a huge power in deciding the Party's leadership in future elections. Caught between a desire for change and loyalty to the party that nurtured their political careers, Limehouse re-imagines the secret conversations between the "gang of four" as they struggle to reconcile their beliefs with their desired future.