Name the two most influential British women of the past 50 years. I can confidently predict (mainly because we are not face to face, so I can happily make up statistics with no fear of repercussions) that 95% of you said The Queen and Margaret Thatcher. Maybe there were a few JK Rowlings and Mother Teresas and Princess Dianas thrown in to the mix, but I conveniently didn’t hear you.

So, as everyone agrees, The Queen and Margaret Thatcher are the most influential British women of the past 50 years. They met up with each other every week for the eleven years that Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, and Moira Buffini’s glorious play, Handbagged, takes a peek into these meetings. The play examines their relationships with the country, with the rest of the world, and, perhaps most importantly here, with each other.

At their first meeting lovely Liz reassures Maggie that what passes between them will stay between these three walls. Yes, three, because Buffini delightfully breaks that fourth wall of the theatre in a very entertaining way. We have The Queen and the Thatcher of the 1980s, played beautifully by Emma Handy and Sanchia McCormack, but in addition to that we have older versions of the pair on stage too, hilariously commenting on what was really said and not said. Susie Blake and Kate Fahy are terrifyingly convincing as the older counterparts – you really believe that the real life pair have somehow found themselves in the Oxford Playhouse, handbags clutched firmly in the crooks of their arms.

Handbagged celebrates the strength of both women, if not necessarily agreeing with them, but that’s not to say that the men don’t get a look in. The two male actors in the play cover an array of 80s figures, including Dennis Thatcher, Gerry Adams, Michael Shea, the Reagans (yes both), and versions of themselves, actors who want the best lines. And the best lines go to Neil Kinnock. The play has respect for Margaret Thatcher as a woman, but its use of Kinnock’s ‘I warn you’ speech really sets its stall politically. For those of you who don’t know it, and I must admit I was one of them, I do recommend you Google it, as it feels more relevant now than ever.

Seamlessly mixing the serious with the absurd, Handbagged is great fun. It’s a real treat to get to imagine what made The Queen and Margaret Thatcher tick, and to get to know them, just a little bit. Yes they were influential figureheads, but they were also real people. Now how do I get to be friends with The Queen? If only I had a dog I just know we’d be best pals.  ★★★★☆   Deborah Sims      29/09/15

Photos byTristram Kenton