'It's not a game for gentlemen we're playing,
Political and civilized. This is
Historic'
2024. As America goes to the polls, democracy itself is on the brink. Who takes the White House – and at what cost?
Mike Bartlett's viciously funny and foreboding The 47th is a dazzling glimpse into the underbelly of the greatest political show on earth: the US presidential race.
It was first produced at The Old Vic, London, in March 2022 by The Old Vic, Sonia Friedman Productions and Annapurna Theatre, directed by Rupert Goold, and featuring Bertie Carvel as Donald J. Trump, Tamara Tunie as Kamala Harris, and Lydia Wilson as Ivanka Trump.
'Gripping... relentlessly enthralling... a wilfully audacious drama... and my god it's entertaining: the plot grips mercilessly... tremendous'
— Time Out
'Mike Bartlett's satire blends billionaire pomp with political chicanery, dynastic family drama and blank verse... the play sparkles with delightful lines'
— Guardian
'Utterly, utterly gripping... the serious imaginative heft of Bartlett's writing is thrilling... both fascinating and frightening... sensational... a knockout punch'
— WhatsOnStage
'Exceptionally entertaining'
— Broadway World
'Taps into the heightened, malevolent energy of the Trump years in a fantastical account of the US presidential election campaign to come in 2024'
— The Stage
'A picture of US politics drawn broadly but boldly with all the skullduggery of its Shakespearean prototypes... a rich mix of comic and serious... unpredictable, totally engrossing, and also very funny'
— British Theatre Guide
'A riff on Shakespearean tragedy with a punchy contemporary angle... Mike Bartlett has crafted an epic'
— Independent
About the Author :
Mike Barlett is an award-winning playwright whose plays include: Scandaltown (Lyric Hammersmith, 2022); The 47th (Old Vic, London, 2022); Mrs Delgado (Old Fire Station, Oxford, 2021); Vassa, adapted from Maxim Gorky's play Vassa Zheleznova (Almeida Theatre, London, 2019); Snowflake (Old Fire Station, Oxford, 2018; revived at Kiln Theatre, London, 2019); Albion (Almeida Theatre, 2017); Wild (Hampstead Theatre, 2016); Game (Almeida Theatre, 2015); King Charles III (Almeida/West End/Broadway, 2014-15); An Intervention (Paines Plough/Watford Palace Theatre); Bull (Sheffield Theatres/Off-Broadway); Medea (Glasgow Citizens/Headlong); Chariots of Fire (based on the film; Hampstead/West End); 13 (National Theatre); Love, Love, Love (Paines Plough/Plymouth Drum/Royal Court); Earthquakes in London (Headlong/National Theatre); Cock (Royal Court/Off-Broadway); Artefacts (Nabokov/Bush); Contractions and My Child (Royal Court).
He was Writer-in-Residence at the National Theatre in 2011, and the Pearson Playwright-in-Residence at the Royal Court Theatre in 2007. Cock won an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre in 2010. Love, Love, Love won the TMA Best New Play Award in 2011. Bull won the same award in 2013. King Charles III won the Critics' Circle Award for Best New Play in 2015.
He has written several plays for BBC Radio, winning the Writers' Guild Tinniswood and Imison prizes for Not Talking.
His work for television includes Press (BBC One, 2018); Trauma (ITV, 2018); two series of Doctor Foster (BBC One, 2015 & 2017, Best New Drama at the National Television Awards); and The Town (ITV1, 2012).
Review :
'Gripping... relentlessly enthralling... a wilfully audacious drama... and my god it's entertaining: the plot grips mercilessly... tremendous'
'Mike Bartlett's satire blends billionaire pomp with political chicanery, dynastic family drama and blank verse... the play sparkles with delightful lines'
'Utterly, utterly gripping... the serious imaginative heft of Bartlett's writing is thrilling... both fascinating and frightening... sensational... a knockout punch'
'Exceptionally entertaining'
'Taps into the heightened, malevolent energy of the Trump years in a fantastical account of the US presidential election campaign to come in 2024'
'A picture of US politics drawn broadly but boldly with all the skullduggery of its Shakespearean prototypes... a rich mix of comic and serious... unpredictable, totally engrossing, and also very funny'
'A riff on Shakespearean tragedy with a punchy contemporary angle... Mike Bartlett has crafted an epic'
'Funny, outrageous… seduces us into a twilight zone of gulping speculation'
