By an odd coincidence, Three Days in May, which revolves around Winston Churchill, opened the very night after the National’s Collaborators that featured Stalin as a leading player. All we needed were stage versions of Tea with Mussolini and Adolph Hitler - My Part in his Downfall to complete the set.
But perhaps a more disturbing fact is that Three Days in May is one of the sole original commercial play entries of the year in the West End, only the short-lived Cool Hand Luke - adapted from a book - also hasn’t been produced in the subsidised sector first. It arguably doesn’t aim quite as high in dramatic ambition as Cool Hand Luke does in trying to show one man’s monumental tussle with the prison system, but the stakes are even higher - never, as Stalin would subsequently tell Churchill, had the future of the world depended so much on the courage of one man.
The play observes him, newly installed as Prime Minister, presiding over the war cabinet in May 1940 as they decide whether to pursue appeasement with Germany (that tried and failed when Chamberlain attempted it in Munich), or continue with the war. France is on the verge of capitulation, and most of western Europe has already fallen.
Warren Clarke, with a face like the proverbial bulldog chewing a wasp, plays Churchill with lower jaw thrust forward and speech impediment in this sturdy, slightly stodgy history lesson that’s masquerading as a play. Playwright Ben Brown organises the facts and arguments with skill but not quite enough theatrical impetus.
Alan Strachan’s production, played out on a giant map of Europe that covers the walls and floor of the Cabinet War Room, has strong supporting performances that include dignified contributions from Jeremy Clyde as foreign minister Lord Halifax and Robert Demeger as Neville Chamberlain.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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