Labour of Love is a new rom-com by fashionable playwright James Graham.
It explores the left-right split in Labour through a slow-burning romance between a Blairite MP David (Martin Freeman) and his Corbynite constituency agent Jean (Tamsin Greig).
We meet them on election night. Labour’s doing better than expected but David looks set to lose his once-safe seat—and neither can work out why.
But we piece it together as the action shifts back to 1990, when David was parachuted into the seat.
The play poses questions about principles and electioneering. The answers are probably less revelatory than the playwrite thinks. Graham’s triumph is that he’s taken an idea that sounds like it should be awful and turned it into an enjoyable night out.
At the Noel Coward Theatre, London, WC2N 4AP
Until 2 December
Tickets from £10