A new opera about the UK’s first female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, described by its creators as holding “a mirror to our own divided age”, will receive its first public showcase at London’s Kings Place on 12 June 2026.
Mrs T: The Iron Lady Sings is billed as the first opera to focus on her time in office. With music by composer Joseph Phibbs and libretto by historian and The Rest Is History podcast co-host Dominic Sandbrook, the work scrutinises the personality of a political icon: a “grocer’s daughter” who rose to become one of the world’s most famous and divisive female politicians, whose legacy continues to reverberate in today’s polarised discourse across Britain, Europe and America. Exploring themes of authority, values and legacy, the opera transforms what its creators describe as a political symbol into a complex woman whose downfall carries, in their words, “the scale, emotional depth and wit of a Shakespearean play.”
Set against the turbulent 1980s, the work explores key events during Thatcher’s premiership: the Falklands War, the Cold War, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and the rise of patriotic nationalism that would eventually foster deep scepticism toward Europe. Phibbs and Sandbrook position the work in the tradition of Nixon in China, describing it as a story Britain has struggled to confront.
Key excerpts from Act One will be presented as a 45-minute semi-staged concert performance with Q&A. Mezzo-soprano Lucy Schaufer takes the title role, with conductor Lee Reynolds and Director Lucy Bradley leading the creative team. The cast includes Marcus Farnsworth as Geoffrey Howe, Mark Stone as Ronald Reagan, Rebecca Afonwy-Jones as Cynthia Crawford, Robert Forrest as Michael Heseltine and Tom Dickerson as The Protester.
For further details, visit www.kingsplace.co.uk
