MPs hit out at ‘extremely sick’ play The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher opening in Liverpool just a week after gunman tried to shoot Donald Trump

MPs have raised concerns about a “deeply sick” stage adaptation of author Dame Hilary Mantel’s The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher just a week after a gunman was accused of trying to shoot US President Donald Trump.

The short story, published a year after the former Conservative Prime Minister’s death in 2013, imagined a plot to kill Thatcher and sparked widespread criticism across the political spectrum.

Now playwright Alexandra Wood has adapted the plot and the production is on stage at Liverpool’s Everyman theatre.

The decision sparked anger and concern that it “justified political violence” because it focused on plotting the death of a politician following the murders of MPs Jo Cox in 2016 and Sir David Amess in 2021.

The game opened its doors on May 2, just a week after a gunman tried to burst into a dinner attended by US President Donald Trump in Washington to kill members of his administration. It also sparked criticism because the timing coincided with yesterday’s local elections.

Iain Duncan Smith, the former leader of the Conservative Party, told the Daily Mail: ‘I question the staging of the play before and just after a really big election and I question whether it’s a big whistle blower.

‘This is a way for the left to resurrect a bogeyman or boogeyman, and to suggest that violence works is disturbing.’

He added that the timing was all the more ‘odd’ given the recent attacks and attempted attacks against people in the UK, particularly the Jewish community.

‘You’re actually putting on a play about killing someone, a politician; This is really strange in an environment where people’s anger is boiling over.’

Playwright Alexandra Wood adapted the script and the production is on stage at Liverpool’s Everyman theatre.

Romford Reform MP Andrew Rosundall, a close friend of both Thatcher and Sir David, added: ‘I cannot understand why any national arts venue or theater would want to put on this kind of show in this climate.

‘For some people it is extremely sick, unpleasant and offensive. This is very provocative in an environment where two MPs, one of whom was a very close friend of mine, were killed in this country in the last ten years.

‘It also seems to legitimize political violence. I think it’s a shame that this is being advertised and presented.’

Jade Marsden, the former Conservative candidate for mayor of the Liverpool City Region, also told the BBC: The decision to stage the play is wrong.

‘I am aware that we should not be afraid of debates and controversial plays in the field of art,’ he said.

‘But given the political tensions around the world and the increase in violence against politicians, I don’t think this should be encouraged, even though Margaret Thatcher is long dead.’

But Ms Wood rejected claims the play glorified violence, saying: ‘The play in no way advocates the assassination of our political leaders or anyone else.’

Award-winning author Dame Hilary remained unrepentant about this work throughout her life, before her death in 2022 at the age of 70.

Expressing his ‘seething hatred’ for the politician, he explained that the idea for the novel came when he saw Thatcher through a window and realized how easy it would be to assassinate her.

‘Your eye immediately measures distance. “I thought if it wasn’t me, if it was someone else, he would be dead,” he said.

The short story caused controversy and is set just a year before the IRA attempted to kill Thatcher by bombing The Grand Hotel in Brighton.

Mrs Thatcher’s suite escaped largely unscathed except for the bathroom, which was badly damaged. If he was getting ready to go to bed there he could have been killed

MPs hit out at the decision to hold the game following the murders of two politicians in the last decade, Labour’s Jo Cox (left) and Conservative Party’s Sir David Amess (right).

When the book was first published in 2014, Nadine Dorries, then Conservative MP for Mid Bedfordshire, told the Daily Mail: ‘I can’t quite believe it. I was heartbroken because Hilary Mantel is one of my favorite authors.

‘It’s shocking that he was so close to (Margaret Thatcher’s death) and that he still has living family and children. It’s about a character whose death is very recent.’

Defending the work at the time, Dame Hilary said:: ‘I think it would be inappropriate to say that this is so dark that we cannot examine it. We cannot escape history; We need to confront it head on.

‘Because the repercussions of Mrs Thatcher’s reign have sated the nation. It still resonates. And say what you liked about him, whatever your opinion of him, he was a shaper of history.’

Set in 1983, The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher tells the fictional story of a Liverpool sniper who lurks outside a window in Windsor and plans to kill the Prime Minister after being taken into a flat by a woman who thinks he is a plumber.

The year it was set has extra significance as it was just a year before the IRA Brighton bombing plot, which aimed to kill Thatcher at the Conservative Party conference.

A device planted by IRA member Patrick Magee weeks earlier exploded in the early hours of 12 October, injuring 30 people; but Thatcher herself was unharmed.

Following the story’s publication, former Conservative cabinet minister Lord Tebbit, whose wife was paralyzed in the bombing, described the story as ‘a sick book from a sick mind’.

The play, which was rated four stars by the Guardian, is showing at Everyman until May 23 and has an age restriction of 14+.

According to the theatre’s content warning, it includes ‘references to murder, death and/or dying’, ‘violence, kidnapping, physical and emotional abuse’ and ‘herbal cigarette use’.

Liverpool Everyman theater has been contacted for comment.