This House by James Graham

ASteffan Rhodri as Walter Harrison and 
 Nathaniel Parker as Jack Weatherill in 
 This House. 

 Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian

I am such a fan of National Theatre productions.

I watched the first 33 minutes of This House by James Graham and thought, this just isn’t working for me.

 If there is a problem with the show, the problem is probably in me and not in the show since it had raving reviews.

It was easy to find out where the problem is in me.

I don’t know much about English politics from 1974 to 1979 to be exact.

 A reviewer says that the show will demonstrate the daily machinations of politics of the struggles of the Labour Party. That doesn’t sound like fun to me.

One of the reviews described the folly of one of the MP’s who faked his own death. I think the headlines were “the man who died twice”. The show alludes to that incident in a scene I didn’t understand, but do now – the waving of a blue blanket and the man disappearing into it – as though drowning.

Also during this time, the referendum on membership in the EU was held. Now that should give anyone who wants to take a try at watching the show, a bit of a head start, which I didn’t have.

Always wanting to learn new words, I took notes during the show and I wrote in my notebook, bollocks. Now I have had time to look it up. To save anyone who doesn’t know this term, the same trouble, here is the meaning from Wikipedia: Bollocks /ˈbɒləks/ is a word of Middle English origin, meaning "testicles". The word is often used figuratively in colloquial British English and Hiberno-English as a noun to mean "nonsense", an expletive following a minor accident or misfortune, or an adjective to mean "poor quality" or "useless".

I heard the word said a number of times. I don’t think I will forget it.

I have given the show one full viewing. I started out to view it again tonight, but a phone call from Moiya got in the way.

 I am sure I will get in another evening watching This House, because after a little research it has become fascinating.

Arta