Mantel's story imagining Thatcher's assassination to be staged in Liverpool

Hilary Mantel's story imagining the murder of Margaret Thatcher is to be staged next year in Liverpool.

- Chris Wiegand

Published in the Guardian in 2014, The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher - August 6th 1983 gave the title to Mantel's collection of short stories that year.

In the book, a woman opens the front door of her flat in a “genteel corner” of Windsor expecting a plumber but finds a gunman. He is intent on using her home’s vantage point to take aim at the then prime minister, who is having an eye operation at a nearby private hospital.

The adaptation by Alexandra Wood, which is billed as a psychological thriller, will be directed by John Young at the Everyman theatre in May.

“This isn’t just a play for people who have an opinion or strong feeling towards Maggie Thatcher,” said Young. “It’s about class, about lives that collide, people trying to understand, asking questions, coming together and bridging that divide.

“I also think it’s a play about what happens when people feel they don’t have a voice, and how dangerous it is when they feel they don’t have anything to lose.”