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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Tramping the Dirt Down: The Real and Imagined Death of Margaret Thatcher

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description

The Death of Margaret Thatcher (2008) is a play written by British playwright, Tom Green. The play, debuting at The Courtyard Theatre, London, received unsurprising criticism mainly due to its controversial and prophetic subject matter. Notably the main grievance was that Margaret Thatcher was not dead. The playwright’s prophetic and imagined version of events touched the nerves of those who supported Thatcher, and also those who derided her. This paper takes into account the preoccupation with imagining Thatcher’s death and also considers the events which took place surrounding the real death of Margaret Thatcher. Curiously, the real and the imagined are closely entwined. The paper aims to demonstrate that the real and imagined responses to Thatcher’s death are positive ways of dealing with a difficult subject matter.