MARGARET Thatcher played by a Spitting Image veteran, and a play of political manoeuvring that feels relevant in these post-Brexit times is the enticing prospect offered by Dead Sheep.

Steve Nallon, who has portrayed the Iron Lady for many years on the political puppetry satire, stars in this dramatic story by Jonathan Maitland of Thatcher’s downfall.

After a record-breaking run and huge critical and public acclaim, Dead Sheep comes to the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford from November 21 to 26.

It portrays the true story of how Thatcher, the most division Prime Minister of modern times, was brought down by her one time friend and political soul-mate, Geoffrey Howe.

In 1989, a seemingly invincible Mrs T ruthlessly sacked her Foreign Secretary, Howe, foolishly thinking she had nothing to fear; his speaking skills has famously been compared to a dead sheep after all.

But, inspired by his wife Elspeth, a formidable and witty feminist, whose relationship with Thatcher was notoriously frosty, Howe overcame his limitations to destroy the Prime Minister’s political career with one of the deadliest speeches ever made.

Using imagined dialogue to portray private scenes between the main protagonists, the play recreates the events leading up to his famous 1990 speech, in which he criticised Thatcher for undermining policies on economic and monetary union in Europe, ultimately leading to her resignation.

“When I wrote Dead Sheep in 2014, I?knew it would be resonant. But now, after Brexit, it feels uncanny. Then, as now, it was a story of a government split over Europe, agonising conflicts of loyalty and a fatal miscalculation by a seemingly impregnable Prime Minister. The timing couldn’t be sweeter.

To book tickets visit www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk