Leak at No 11: Rachel Reeves and the urine joke she couldn’t get rid of | Section

Britain is a conservative country, we are told over and over again. So when Labor came into government, and Rachel Reeves became the UK’s first female Chancellor of the Exchequer, there were obstacles to change. Most notably, Rosie Holt, who was allegedly involved in the occult, was found in the toilet of Reeves’ Westminster office. Holt said: “There was urine in No 11. “And Reeves told the interviewer, ‘I’m going to break the glass ceiling with urine.’ He was setting up this urine removal as a symbolic victory. I thought that was funny and interesting.”

But things did not go according to plan. “They couldn’t remove it, not only because the building was listed, but also because the urinal was historically important. Winston Churchill.” For Holt — a stand-up comedian, internet comedian and retired theater producer — the story was irresistible. At the end of last year, he created a new drama based on the politics of Reeves’ war and history. urinal. A year on, Churchill’s Urinal – written by Holt with input from his old friend, comedian Stewart Lee – has its London premiere.

“As a story, it’s a mix of different things that are happening in this country,” says Holt, during a rehearsal break. “Racism: people are always too extreme when it comes to Churchill.” Also the idea of ​​our first female lead, which surprisingly hasn’t been mentioned much. I saw the work-in-progress of Churchill’s Urinal on in Edinburgh August is over, and he can confirm that Holt’s take on the tale gives us a sustained interest in class, sex and the misunderstandings of contemporary, British wartime.

The show has changed since then, don’t worry. It started life as a comedy/standup hybrid, but has moved firmly into the theater camp. This marks the homecoming of Holt, 40, who turned to comedy after training as an actor, “because I wanted creative control”. His last theater performance was Double Crownthe iconic image of two people from Netflix’s royal family drama. Then came the plague, where Holt made his name Online art that is like cannon-fodder Tory backbenchersbravely defending the indefensible in fake TV interviews when the Johnson government was in trouble. Since then he has been protesting what is happening several live shows.

Why, then, not put the matter of urine as vertical? “I remember when I talked to Stewart about it,” says Holt, “he said, ‘Oh, you can do that with an MP?’ And I felt very strongly that I didn’t want to do that. What I wanted was the narrative process and the feeling of this woman being overwhelmed by all these outside forces while trying to keep things together and save face. I felt that I could show better in a play than on a stand.” And will it always be the famous actress, er, Rosie Holt? “Yes, it was, isn’t it bad?”

He said: “Putting myself in there was very selfish. “But that’s not why I wrote this. Otherwise I would just write a large part of the theater that would show my versatility. And I wouldn’t write about politics, I would write about everything else. I’m angry with myself that the first idea for a play I come up with is still rooted in the world of politics.”

Well, they say write what you know – and with Churchill’s Urinal Holt has created a drama not only about the cut and thrust of Westminster life (his scandalous story in the last five years) but about the bad reception given to women in male countries. “Especially during the shutdown, my work was in the public eye,” he admits. “And sometimes you’re subjected to a lot of abuse, and you’re sexually abused, which as a man, you don’t get, it’s very different, what a lot of female MPs experience.

“Now we’re in this world where you go, ‘Okay, it’s the same: a woman can be a leader, a woman can do comedy.’ But there is also frustration from some people that a woman can’t handle those jobs. And that’s one of the things I’m talking about with this play. “

And will this play, about a deeply divided world, elicit politically divided responses from the audience? “I thought,” replies Holt, “that you would ask: do you think this play will unite the British people?” Chance can be a good thing. He said: “I want to ask questions about the fact that our country is so divided, and that we have a government that does not give clear direction about where this country should go. But the most important thing, says Holt, is to ask: “What is the best way to communicate this to the audience?