It feels like a lifetime since Theresa May and Gina Miller were called “bloody difficult women” during Britain’s brutal and laborious war over Brexit.
But the legal battle between the political opponents, and its lesson on accountability, are just as relevant today, according to the cast of a new play.
“With what’s happening in politics now, we realise the importance of championing protocol,” said Jessica Turner, who plays May in Bloody Difficult Women, which opens at Riverside Studios in London on Thursday.
“At the time, we as a nation weren’t necessarily aware that the triggering of article 50 [the UK’s EU exit clause] could have been done through the royal prerogative or through parliament. Now we are much more aware of how important that stand was.”
It was in 2016 that Miller, an anti-Brexit activist, decided to take the government to court over over its authority to implement Brexit without approval from parliament. She has said she was furious about people seeing themselves as above the law.
Amara Karan, who plays the Guyanese-British business owner, said she hoped what Miller stood for was something “we can go back to … Particularly now with this conversation over public standards and the government breaking its own laws.” Miller, Karan added, “looks less of a pedantic person now. Someone has to make sure the rule of law is followed, otherwise our whole society collapses.”
The play captures an episode of the Brexit story through the unfolding drama between May and Miller. The writer, Tim Walker, a journalist who has previously worked with Miller, has called it a “psychological human drama about idealism, obsession and delusion”.
The themes it covers are as personal as they are political – there is much of the sexist and sometimes racist abuse and threats faced by Miller during the court case, as well as May’s ongoing struggle for the support of her party and country.
Turner said it was a “huge responsibility” playing figures who are still very much in the public spotlight. “Particularly when everyone has such a strong image of a character like May.”
Karan remembers following the news story at the time, and wondering why Miller was “taking on all of these causes. It seemed like a thankless job.” But since then, she’s “learned what she’s about, what her agenda is, where she grew up, the traumas she suffered” and found that she could relate to her more.
“Lots of women in public have suffered all kinds of abuse and particularly women of colour,” she said. “I was scared for her, to be honest. It felt like it was this woman against the world. The language was becoming very violent and racist around Brexit.
“I was really excited and struck when she actually won the high court case, and then the supreme court case, and then successfully sued Boris Johnson [In September 2019, Miller successfully challenged Johnson’s prorogation of parliament].”
So what of the similarities between May and Miller? The play suggests they have more in common than meets the eye, including a stringent work ethic and a love of cricket.
“I think what they have in common is being a woman in a man’s world,” Turner said. “They had to fight their corners. They’re both conviction politicians rather than career ones. Yes, May had ambitions, but she worked through the very basics of stuffing envelopes in her local party first.”
In a demonstrative scene midway through the play, May and Miller address the audience. Miller says: “When a man takes a stand on something, he is seen as a maverick. But a woman doing this is considered mean.” May responds: “Women are not allowed to complain. If we do, we are whiny and hysterical.”
The actors said the play was “very funny, but also a reflection of our times”. The last scene even leaps in time and is set in present day. “Accountability and the lack of it is very current,” Turner said. “So although it’s about something that’s happened in the past, and you might say that’s history, it’s actually very relevant now.”
Bloody Difficult Women opens at Riverside Studios on 24 February
