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Dame Shirley Porter |
Shirley set for West End stage?
Theatre show could follow radio adaptation of book about the disgraced dame
LOCAL government is not exactly Shakespearean in its machinations. Playwrights just aren’t that interested in planning applications, wheelie bins and environmental health officers.
But in the disgraced former leader of Westminster Council Dame Shirley Porter, the woman who became exiled in Israel, Theatreland thinks it might have the makings of the next Richard III.
As far fetched as it sounds, the story of Dame Shirley is to be turned into a play. The working title suggests it won’t be sympathetic to Shirley Porter – it will be called Shirleymander.
The Tesco heiress and daughter of Sir Jack Cohen became the face of the “Homes for votes” scandal, when thousands of council tenants in marginal wards were moved out, replaced by owner-occupiers more likely to vote Conservative.
Based on the best-selling book, Nothing like a Dame: The Scandals of Shirley Porter by Andrew Hosken, the play will be recorded next month for a slot on BBC Radio 4 ahead of a possible West End show.
The script has been penned by Gregory Evans, the man behind numerous television dramas including adaptations of Graham Greene, Stephen King and Thomas Hardy.
Mr Hosken, a reporter at the Today programme, said: “Gregory approached me after his wife read the book. I’ve read the script and it is very faithful to what happened. I would love to see it be put on in the West End.
“Her story certainly lends itself to the stage. In her time she was a hate figure, absolutely reviled, especially because unlike a lot of these sort of people she never said sorry.
“There seems to be a trend at the moment for looking back to the 1980s.
“I wonder what she would make of it – I’m sure she would hate it. She certainly didn’t give me any feedback on the book.”
The West End Extra understands the lead role has yet to be cast, but it is rumoured that Imelda Staunton is a front-runner to play the “second most powerful grocer’s daughter in Britain”.
Now aged 78, Dame Shirley still lives in Israel. In 2004 she was ordered to pay £12million to Westminster Council, although she never faced criminal charges.
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