MRS T: First Opera About Margaret Thatcher Will Receive London Showcase

A showcase of Mrs T, a new work centred around Margaret Thatcher, will take place at Kings Place (Hall Two) in London on 12 June 2026 with a public audience. Composer Joseph Phibbs and historian, columnist, and co-host of The Rest Is History podcast, Dominic Sandbrook, have teamed up to write the first ever opera about the UK's first female Prime Minister's time in office.

Mezzo-soprano Lucy Schaufer stars in the title role, under the direction of Lucy Bradley.

The work, titled Mrs T, scrutinises the personality of a political icon: a "grocer's daughter" who rose to become the world's most famous and divisive female politician, and whose legacy is passionately debated to this day.

Telling her story now raises urgent questions about what it means to stand up for what you believe in, and explores themes around authority, values, and legacy, holding a mirror to our own divided age. Her fierce brand of conviction politics fractured society, and its legacy continues to reverberate in today's polarised discourse across Britain, Europe, and America.

Key excerpts from Act One of Mrs T will be presented as a showcase with Q&A. An exclusive public audience will be the first to hear 45 minutes of music as a semi-staged concert performance with minimal set and costumes.

The creative team includes director Lucy Bradley, conductor Lee Reynolds with mezzo-soprano Lucy Schaufer in the title role. Additional roles include Geoffrey Howe (Marcus Farnsworth, baritone), Ronald Reagan (Mark Stone, bass baritone), Cynthia Crawford (Rebecca Afonwy-Jones, mezzo-soprano), plus Michael Heseltine (Robert Forrest, tenor), and The Protester (Tom Dickerson, actor). Ben-San Lau joins the team as repetiteur and pianist for the showcase.

Set against the backdrop of the turbulent 1980s, Mrs T explores key events during Thatcher's time in office: 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, sowing the seeds of Brexit. These growing fractures - both political and personal - provide the dramatic impetus to transform a political symbol into a complex woman whose downfall carries the scale, emotional depth, and wit of a Shakespearean play. The showcase on 12 June will include a selection of scenes from Act One.

In the tradition of Nixon in China, Mrs T has the potential to become a landmark work that enters the cultural conversation and endures. This is a story Britain has struggled to confront. Now is the moment to tell it, with the depth, artistry and seriousness it deserves.