In 1978, on the threshold of political power, Margaret Thatcher wrote a letter to her speech writer Ronald Millar. The soon-to-be Iron Lady and first female prime minister of Great Britain had just seen a performance of Evita. ‘If we apply the same perfection and creativeness to our message, we should provide quite good historic material for an opera called “Margaret” in 30 years’ time,’ she wrote with characteristic self-possession… and perhaps a tad of irony.
Mrs T: a new 'musical saga' about Margaret Thatcher
Almost 50 years on, Mrs T, a new ‘musical saga’ created by composer Joseph Phibbs and The Rest is History podcaster-turned-librettist Dominic Sandbrook, is a little late to the party. But it’s nevertheless good to know that this tribute to one of our most memorable – and formidable – leaders has pre-approval from the lady herself.
Whether Mrs T – in development at the time of writing – can be described as an opera is, in fact, up for debate, given its ‘blending of different styles and genres’, according to Phibbs. Yet there’s no denying that Thatcher’s life, and particularly her 11 years in office from 1979-90 – the period covered by the new work – had a sense of drama. Both Phibbs and Sandbrook describe Thatcher’s political journey as ‘Shakespearean’ – a tale of talent and conviction; of an unlikely rise to power; and a ‘betrayal’ by allies who grew tired of their leader’s belittling tendencies and her inability, in the end, to accept sage advice.
A personal, human story
That hubris is at the centre of what Phibbs and Sandbrook see as a very personal, psychologically nuanced story, set against the backdrop of grand political events. ‘I view the piece as being not so much about the politics, but rather about her personality, and how that environment of politics affected her personality,’ explains Phibbs. ‘We’re all very familiar with the public face of Margaret Thatcher, but what was she like behind the mask? How, for example, did she behave with her personal secretary Cynthia Crawford?’
‘The humanising element is really important,’ agrees Sandbrook. ‘In any work of art your lead character should be human and rounded. But almost all politicians wear masks. That gives us an interesting dynamic to play with here, between the private and the public. Thatcher put on a face for her cabinet colleagues, of being formidable, unbending and implacable. But in private we’re able to show her weakness and emotion.’
Both men are at pains to stress that the work is ‘not a partisan piece’ and that political point scoring is ‘boring’. Yet there’s no denying that Thatcher was, and remains, a hugely polarising figure – one who operated in an era of larger-than-life political titans such as Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev (both of whom appear in the work) and whose political legacy has reverberations today. ‘Is somebody going to write an opera about Theresa May or John Major,’ jokes Sandbrook. ‘It feels a little bit unlikely to me. Or Keir Starmer: The Opera… I can’t see that coming! There’s a sense that the world of the 1980s had much bigger figures than a lot of the politicians we have now.’ And that backdrop is most certainly a draw.
Mrs T: creating the character of Thatcher
So how to bring the character of Thatcher to musical life? It’s a complicated question, especially considering her memorable depictions in any number of film and television dramas, in satire and caricature. Enter mezzo Lucy Schaufer, who takes on the dual role of executive producer and the part of Thatcher. ‘The character of Thatcher needs to be somebody who can really hold the stage, who’s got the voice, the command and the depth,’ says Sandbrook. ‘Lucy has all those things.’
Speaking to Schaufer reveals a reassuringly forthright presence – a singer capable of taking on a dazzling array of world premieres throughout her varied career. Yet she admits to some hesitation before accepting the role. ‘I did take a pause in that first Zoom call with Joe,’ she recalls. ‘“Before I jump in,” I said, “I need to know exactly your intention with this piece” because I didn’t want to be involved in a political polemic. But once I discovered that the essence of this work is the personal, I was hooked. Because then it’s a woman’s story in a complicated era that still has resonance today. Above all, I wanted to avoid creating a caricature of Thatcher, because the drama will never work if the portrayal isn’t truthful. You’ll never connect with the audience if they feel there’s a veneer.’
Reproducing Thatcher's famous voice
An essential element of Thatcher’s public persona was her voice – which she deliberately deepened and slowed to avoid accusations of feminine shrillness. As Schaufer is naturally at ease singing in a lower register, Phibbs has been able to experiment with colour and tone when depicting Thatcher in personal and public spaces.
‘Lucy has a wonderful range,’ he says. ‘She can sing way down to E flat below middle C, so that gives me great scope in her more formal cabinet meetings. Here I write with a lot of perfect fifths, in quite regular, strident, four-square language. But later, when she’s talking to her private secretary, the music becomes much more fluid and expressive, with smaller intervals. And here I write more for the upper part of the voice.’
Creating the right libretto... enter historian Dominic Sandbrook
This musical unmasking is mirrored in Sandbrook’s libretto – the first of the historian’s career. Phibbs approached the presenter to be a part of the project after listening to an episode of The Rest is History on the 1980s: ‘He sounded like a lovely person, with a lovely sense of humour – and I’d also read some of his books, which are the exact opposite of a dry historian.’ The two have worked closely to arrive at a poetic language that, says Phibbs, is ‘much more condensed and stylised than a theatre script’.
And as Sandbrook observes, in her political rhetoric Thatcher ‘often spoke in a slightly operatic way’ – from her famous ‘No, no, no’ on the feverish subject of Europe, to ‘The lady’s not for turning’ on her strict economic policies at the 1980 Conservative Party Conference. He cites, too, her famous victory speech on the steps of Downing Street in 1979: ‘Where there is discord, may we bring harmony. Where there is error, may we bring truth. Where there is doubt, may we bring faith. Where there is despair, may we bring hope.’ ‘We can’t forget that her father was a Methodist,’ he says. ‘So, she actually got a lot of that moralistic language, a certain biblical cadence, from attending church. That’s all wonderful stuff for an operatic libretto.’
Mrs T: the first London showcase
Seeing this all come together at the opera’s first London showcase in April is a startlingly powerful experience. Though Schaufer sings just a selection of excerpts from Act One – with a supporting cast of four, skeletal piano (Ben-San Lau) and orchestral midi accompaniment – it’s easy to envisage how immersive the work might become once on stage with live chamber orchestra and a Greek-style chorus representing, as Schaufer puts it, ‘the everyman, the protester, a social conscience’.
The scenes encompass the stark unemployment figures of Thatcher’s early years in power, recounted in a chaotic whirr of overlapping voices and anxious piano accompaniment; her private grief in sombre and dissonant tones over those lost in the Falklands War; Geoffrey Howe’s (baritone Marcus Farnsworth) growing sense of grievance; and the bolstering, even tender, relationship she shared with her secretary Cynthia Crawford (mezzo-soprano Rebecca Afonwy-Jones, whose strong voice provides the perfect counterpoint to Schaufer’s).
The sheer variety of musical language is quite dazzling – from nods to punk and new romantic pop of the 1980s to musical theatre and Phibbs’s own idiosyncratic style. Schaufer, meanwhile, is magnetic as Thatcher - imperious and charismatic, despite her small stature. Her speaking voice, recognisably the Iron Lady’s, morphs into a rich and resonant singing register that cuts across the male leads as, in real life, only Thatcher herself could do.
We can only hope that this ambitious project finds the investment needed to bring it to full-bodied life. Thatcher left public office nearly 36 years ago – and love her or loathe her, the operatic stage has always beckoned.
A showcase of scenes from ‘Mrs T’ will be presented at Kings Place, London on 12 June 2026. Tickets on sale now.
