There is nothing like a dame, and there is no Dame like the disgraced Tory ex-council leader Shirley Porter, who is reportedly the subject of a new play being written by Gregory Evans. The Hampstead Theatre has expressed an interest in reading the work, which is based on journalist Andrew Hosken’s biography.
The working title is Shirleymander, a reference to the gerry-mandering policy Porter deployed as the head of Westminster council in the 1980s which had homeless families moved to substandard housing in order to manipulate the borough’s voting demographic.
Intriguingly, Evans has mentioned actress Maureen Lipman as a possible candidate for the leading role. But Lipman remains cool about the prospect.
“It’s always much easier to play a villain than a saint,” she tells Notebook. “But unless she [Porter] was given a reason [in the play] to behave the way she did, and is a three-dimensional character, I wouldn’t be interested. As ever, it would depend on whether the play and the character were well written and the play wasn’t biased or loaded against Jewish characters. And if the director was good… and if I didn’t have to play Woking… Oh, and practical food always helps… I hate speculation, don’t you?”
Well, not really, Maureen. Where would Notebook be without speculation?
