Achi news desk-
In his 2013 book, Barr writes about growing up in Newarthill in North Lanarkshire, the son of a steel miner who lost his job in Ravenscraig. He was Catholic in a Protestant community and a gay schoolboy at a time of Clause 28 which shut down open conversations about homosexuality in schools.
During his early life he suffered physical abuse, torment growing up in a desperately poor household, and social judgment affecting his mental health. And yet, Barr is not just condemning the woman responsible for turning steelworks into rust, or coal mines into dust.
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The author, whose autobiography is about to appear as a play, produced by the National Theater of Scotland, explains that in his experience the polar views of the late First Minister are much more subtle than is usually accepted, especially in the Scotland.
“I love Maggie for telling me to do my homework,” she said. “I love Maggie for sweeping the Seventies away. I love Maggie for revolutionizing this country. I love Maggie for voting to decriminalize homosexuality in 1967. I love Maggie for making a cult of the individual. I love Maggie for being Iron Woman. I love Maggie for taking no sh**.”
And yet, his story is not a love letter to the daughter of the former grocer from Grantham. “I hate Maggie for Clause 28. I hate Maggie for taking my dad’s job away. I hate Maggie for taking away mum’s benefit. I hate Maggie for stealing my school milk. I hate Maggie for making me poor.”
Barr’s ability to write in bright color the shades of gray that Thatcher cast in the writer’s mind led to an opportunity for readers – and now audiences – to at least discuss the politician’s intention.
Yet even though the award-winning author is not a Conservative, he says he couldn’t use it as the framing device for his own story.
“When I came to write, I discovered that she was there all the time. I moved a lot; my family was not consistent. Maggie was consistent. She was everywhere. Maybe not always in my face, but always present on TV, in the papers. She was part of the culture in a way I don’t think any other politician could be.”
He added: “Her conviction and assurance was attractive as a child. He was blamed for everything in my community. When the last 50 pence went out on the meter, it was always “F****** Maggie”. Everyone hated her. And I felt a bit like everyone hated me. She was an outsider. And I felt like an outsider. I felt sorry for her. And that sympathy was the place to explore my relationship with her.”
The author developed a secret admiration for this woman in blue with the perfect lacquered steel-wool hair and an even stronger self-belief. And in analyzing his relationship with Thatcher, Barr was able to understand himself better.
However, the theater version of the story will take a very different form to the book narrative. co-author James Ley explains. “This is going to be a classic piece of modern Scottish storytelling,” said Ley, author of popular plays including Love Song to Lavender Menace, Wilf, and Ode to Joy. “There will be two acts, an interval, and a real combination of forms, with songs, a touch of agitprop, magic realism and naturalness – because of the quality of Damian’s naturalistic dialogue, in the book and in the new material he has written, it will be wonderful.”
Whether Scottish audiences will latch on to Damian Barr’s positive take on the Iron Lady, to consider that her big hair and shoulder pads can help balance her presidency over a 15 per cent interest economy, or sow the seeds of privatization of the NHS, fascinating to understand. What is undeniable is that it will be difficult not to be engrossed by the story of the author’s early life, as difficult and complex it was to tell as hard as Thatcher herself. “I knew I had to write about things that would be painful, I put off doing it for ages. But eventually the fear of not doing it becomes greater than the fear of doing it.”
Maggie & Me, Tron Theatre, Glasgow, May 7-11, then travel to Inverness, Perth, Cumbernauld, Dundee, and Edinburgh until June 15.
Don’t Miss:
Matthew Bourne’s magical dance production of Edward Scissorhands, the classic outsider in life, returns to the Theater Royal, Glasgow, May 21 – 25.
