The Constituent at The Old Vic

Last Updated on June 26, 2024

James Corden returns to London stage in political drama

Sometimes the timing of a play’s staging makes the production resonate particularly strongly with the audience. So it is with The Constituent, a new play written by Joe Penhall (Blue/Orange, Mood Music) featuring a dutiful and compassionate opposition backbencher dealing with a constituent, an ex-serviceman in crisis. With campaigning for a general election in full swing outside the theatre, the character of an MP on stage is particularly poignant. With some real-life MPs requiring police protection due to threats from the public – tragic murders ( most recently Jo Cox in 2016 and Sir David Amess in 2021) and several recent attacks on MPs offices – the content of the play feels all too real as it explores the tension between public service and personal safety. Penhall’s research for the play included conversations with a range of MPs including Jess Phillips who had 600 rape threats in one single day. The threat of violence towards our public representatives is not only a concern for their personal safety but for our democracy as many would-be candidates for public office are put off by the increasing vitriol and threats of violence that are meted out to them – often, but not exclusively – to women.

James Corden and Anna Maxwell Martin in The Constituent at The Old Vic – credit Manuel Harlan (5)

The Constituent is directed by Matthew Warchus who has had great success with A Christmas Carol and Matilda The Musical amongst other productions. Opposition backbencher MP, Monica, is played by BAFTA award-winning Anna Maxwell Martin (Motherland, Line of Duty). She has her ideals about public service put to the test when confronted by the demands of Alec (James Corden), a man she knows from her schooldays who has come to install a security system in her constituency office. His life is a series of challenges and he is in the midst of a crisis. James Corden, Tony, BAFTA and Emmy award winner who is well known to audiences from The History Boys and One Man, Two Guvnors, not to mention his TV appearances in Gavin and Stacey, Carpool Karaoke and host of CBS The Late, Late Show, returns to the London stage after an absence of 12 years. The third character, Mellor, is a police protection officer and played by Zachary Hart (An Enemy of the People, Julius Caesar).

Do we expect too much or too little from our MPs? Alec has problems which Monica is unable to resolve and this frustrates his expectations of her access to the levers of power which he lacks. An ex-serviceman in Afghanistan, now suffering with PTSD, Alec is unable to gain access to his children as he has fallen out with his ex-wife. His bullying and manipulative and threatening modus operandi – he was in military intelligence in the army – results in him digging himself further and further into a hole into which he finally collapses. At this point we see the vulnerability, fear and pain that masquerade as aggression and rage.

James Corden and Anna Maxwell Martin in The Constituent at The Old Vic – credit Manuel Harlan (1)

The play deals a lot with the question of boundaries, with all three characters overstepping these constantly. In a heated moment, Monica shouts at Alec ‘I’m not your punchbag, I’m a member of parliament’. Her empathy has led her down a road where she tries to remain true to herself, but it begs the question of what the place of empathy is in politics. Monica was determined not to be what Alec accused her of – ‘a dead person in a dead parliament in a dead country’. However, she overcompensates and becomes more of a psychotherapist or social worker.

With James Corden in a starring role, many of the audience may be expecting a comedy. The Constituent raises questions that are far from a laughing matter. I was surprised that, considering the research that Penhall did interviewing MPs about their experiences, he chose to play for laughs. I found this a distraction from the political drama as it unfolded. The frequent, long scene changes also created a sense of dramatic disconnect. The third character, while an important device to prevent the tedium that might set in with an ongoing ding-dong between Alec and Monica, was a weaker character than the main ones and rather one-dimensional.

Zachary Hart in The Constituent at The Old Vic – credit Manuel Harlan (2)

Corden and Maxwell Martin both put in strong performances with good character development, although I felt somewhat unmoved by either of them. I think this is due to the script and the constant breaking of tension with long scene changes. The only set change I wished had lasted longer was towards the end of the play when a masterstroke of musical interlude had Billy Bragg blasting out his brilliant song, Between the Wars.

There is a very serious discussion to be had about what the public wants from their MPs. Why have they become such targets for hatred and violence when many are spending their time trying to sort out housing and access to a GP for their constituents? Many members of the public, the play suggests, have grown cynical about the ‘narcissists and risk-takers’ who stand for public office. The Constituent skated around these issues but did not sufficiently get to grips with its subject. Penhall calls on us to feel compassion towards our fellow constituents but in the current climate of political intolerance, it seems inevitable that MPs do so while wearing a stab vest.

The Constituent plays at The Old Vic until 10 August.

The Old Vic, The Cut, London SE1 8NB