Play List: Theme – The Law / Politics

Here you can find a selection of theatrical plays based around the theme of law and politics. Each play listed includes cast size, genre, the setting and a review. All of the plays listed have been tested with my play reading group.

Key:           

Cast Sizes - Small 2-6; Medium 7-12; Large 13+

Copies - Number of copies currently held at the NewSPAL library in Ewell

Robert Bolt - A Man for all Seasons

Genre: Drama, Historical                             Cast: Mixed, Large Copies 32

Setting England, Tudor

The play portrays More as an individual who gave his life up because he was true to his own commitment to his conscience. It explores More’s political and religious objections to King Henry VIII’s creation of the Church of England and his divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. The play follows More through the last years of his life, ending with his execution.

Agatha Christie - Witness for the Prosecution

Genre: Courtroom Drama                            Cast: Mixed, Medium  Copies 16

Setting England, Courtroom, 1950s

Leonard Vole is arrested for the murder of Emily French, a wealthy older woman. Unaware that he was a married man, Miss French made him her principal heir, casting suspicion on Leonard. When his wife, Romaine, agrees to testify, she does so not in Leonard's defence but as a witness for the prosecution - part of a complicated plan to free her husband. She first gives the prosecution its strongest evidence, then fabricates new evidence that discredits her testimony, believing, correctly as it turns out, that her impeachment as an unfaithful wife would improve Leonard's chances of acquittal far more than her testimony for the defence. It is then revealed that Leonard Vole did in fact kill Emily French.

William Shakespeare - The Merchant of Venice

Genre: Comedy, but really Drama                Cast: Mixed, Large Copies 26

Setting Venice, Timeless

Antonio, an antisemitic merchant, takes a loan from the moneylender Jew Shylock to help his friend Bassanio to court wealthy heiress Portia. He wins her in a scene where he has to choose between a gold, a silver and a bronze casket.

Antonio’ ships are lost, and he can't repay the loan, and without mercy, Shylock demands a pound of his flesh. Portia, now the wife of Antonio's friend, dresses as a lawyer and saves Antonio. 

Note: Together with reading and discussing the play, especially with modern knowledge, we watched an RSC video. It was a great afternoon for the play reading group!

David Hare - Murmuring Judges

Genre: Drama                                             Cast: Mixed, Large Copies 12

Setting England. Prisons, Inns of Court. Prisons 1990s

When Irina Platt embarks on her first case as a lawyer, she finds that all sections of the criminal justice system- police, courts and prisons- are running badly. The play paints a picture of the judicial system and of British society in the 1990s.

This play is part of David Hare’s critically acclaimed ‘State of the Nation’ trilogy, where Hare focussed his attention on the seeming dysfunctionality of particular public institutions. The other two plays examined the Church of England and the Labour Party. This one puts the spotlight on the legal profession; more closely still the Bar and the police.

Note: Our readers found this play particularly challenging, though some good discussions did follow its reading. One for the more socially and politically aware/active groups.

Jerome Lawrence - Inherit the Wind

Genre: Fictionalised Historical, Drama           Cast: Mixed, Large Copies 7

Setting Tennessee 1920s

Inherit the Wind is a fictionalized account of the 1925 Scopes "Monkey" Trial. The story is about a science teacher in a small Tennessee town who defies the law by teaching the theory of evolution to his students, and his case prompts a renowned fundamentalist politician/lawyer, Matthew Harrison Brady, to offer his services as the prosecuting attorney. The presentation of the case, from selection of the jury to arguments swinging in each way, this is an exciting read. And there’s a good love interest ending with an elopement for a bonus! Highly recommended.

Agatha Christie - Verdict

Genre: Melodrama, Drama, Mystery             Cast: Mixed, Medium Copies 11

Setting London Bloomsbury, c 1950s

Karl Hendryk, a brilliant professor who, with his wife and her cousin, has fled persecution to London. The play concerns itself with the relationships the professor has with the women in his life. His wife, Anya, is suffering from a progressively debilitating disease; her cousin, Lisa is also her carer; Helen Rollander, is a spoiled student who takes private lessons with the professor. Not a typical Christie murder mystery or a whodunnit but a profound and thoughtful piece that deals with the human experience and the psychology of relationships and moral philosophy. It’s better than it sounds in summary!

Reginald Rose - Twelve Angry Men

Genre (Behind the) Courtroom Drama           Cast: Mixed, Medium Copies 13

Setting New York, Summer 1957

The entire play is the deliberation of a jury in a homicide trial, where a 19-year-old boy is accused of murder. The courtroom drama explores the problems that can beset the American judicial system, from individual arrogance to racism and classism. The entire play takes place within the small, hot jury room, intensifying the tense exchange between the twelve jurors. Each juror has his own “take”, and the verdict sways one way and the other, before an eventual acquittal.

Note: All male cast, but women readers delighted in reading the male parts. Very much enjoyed by all.

Felicity Douglas - Alibi for a Judge

Genre: (sort-of) Courtroom                          Cast: Mixed, Medium Copies 20

Setting England 1960s

Mr. Justice Carstairs is a High Court judge...as well as a chronic worrier and extremely conscientious. In a recent case, he sentenced a man to ten years imprisonment; however, his conscience begins to prick him about the way in which he conducted the trial and he feels that the alibi given by the defendant's wife may in fact be true.

He is determined to do something about the case and takes the unprecedented step of trying to overrule his own judgement while encountering resistance from all sides.

More themes, and more individual plays will be added as they are read.

If you would like me to add a play you have read, please let me know.