Its calledExecutioner Number One, and it takes place in an alternate version of the present day.
Whithouses script imagines that the vote passed in a landslide.
With this slice of smart and scary satire, Whithouse has delivered something brilliant.
[Laughs] The moustache?
They all kind of pull together.
And when did you settle on the 1974 bombings as this sort of jumping off point?
And that for some reason that image kind of stuck with me.
I think it was quite important that, for the play, it wasnt a recent phenomenon.
So that seemed like a good sort of turning point, to work on from there.
Well this is the weird thing.
Pre-Brexit, and pre-Trump, and all of that.
And gradually, over time, it became increasingly kind of…
I had no intention of writing anything remotely kind of topical or prescient.
Yeah, I mean, that was something that people have talked about for quite a while.
I vehemently believe we shouldnt have had a vote on a referendum on the membership of the EU.
We certainly shouldnt have one on capital punishment.
Have you made many edits to the script recently because of whats been going on?
There were two bits that changed.
Originally, it was an act of parliament that had brought back the death penalty.
Just routine voting in the House Of Commons.
Going back to how the character came first, how did Ian come to you?
Where did the idea come from?
I dont really know.
I find that infinitely more fascinating than the big sort of policy decisions.
In a way, thats kind of more cautionary and more frightening.
The people who facilitate and who put these things into practise.
And when did it come about that you would be playing him?
Um, I cant really remember.
It was kind of just a gradual process.
And so, then I started writing it as this extended monologue.
And suddenly it sounded…
I realised, actually, I really wanted to do it.
Part of the challenge mustve been making him funny but not making him too sympathetic?
Yeah, yeah yeah yeah.
And thing is of course, everyone, the audience is constantly very different.
And they could kind of, not empathise with him, but understand him.
Whereas to others, of course, hes utterly repellent.
And have you had anyone come up to you afterwards that thinks Ian has got it spot-on?
When I was Googling around today I saw that you also staged your first play at the Soho Theatre.
It must be a special place for you?
Yeah, I had two shows here before this.
Um, in 2000 and 2005.
And it was fantastic.
The first play [Jump Mr Maniloff, Jump] really sort of launched my career.
And so, it is fantastic to be back there.
How did this set come together?
Because it has to be a set that can be easily contained.
So it had to be quite contained.
Because the budget onBeing Humanwas so tiny.
And he always pulled off weekly miracles onBeing Human,by just working with an incredibly constrained budget.
So I knew that he would be able to meet the challenges of the space and of the turnaround.
Yeah, yeah yeah, it is a very intimate piece.
And again, I was really happy with it going on in the studio there.
It feels like exactly the right place for it.
What do you want to happen with it?
And I said, To be brutally honest, kind of, nothing.
I want it to be… And invariably those jobs turned out to be utterly miserable.
So, consequently, I wanted this to be about this.
I wanted it to be about…
I just wanted to make this production as good as possible.
I want this bit, this incarnation of it, to be as good as it possibly can be.
So yeah, its interesting how it and the audience are kind of responding to current new cycles.
And Ians kind of wrapped up in that as well.
Thats whats been most kind of terrifying about whats happened recently.
You know, history means nothing.
History is being ignored, and I find that very scary.
And is there ever a point where you think, maybe I cant make a joke about that?
No, you see, I think then it becomes even more…
I think that the moment we stop doing that is the moment that they win.
Theres a title going around for it,The Lie Of The Land,is that official?
Yeah, thats official.
And is it right that its the monk monsters from the trailer are what thats all about?
I genuinely dont know if I can say.
Because Im not entirely sure I was allowed to say that it was the third part of a three-parter.
So I should probably just shut up.
And of course its Peter Capaldis final series.
What will you miss about writing for his Doctor?
Just his wit and his intelligence and his brilliance.
So, I think its a great shame that hes moved on, but I completely understand why.
I think hes been a phenomenal Doctor.
How do you approach that?
Do you get, like, a bible from Steven Moffat of the way she would behave?
How does it work?
And so, her voice rang out very clearly from that.
Have you got anything lined up for after the play finishes?
Can you tell us what youll be working on next?
No, I mean, Ive got a lot of stuff in development.
And yeah, sort of lurching from one development project to another at the moment.
You know, theres lots of interesting stuff, Im very lucky.
All of the stuff Im developing is really interesting, its all stuff Id be really happy to do.
But nothing is definite at the moment.
Okay, well I look forward to finding out what they are one day!
And I look forward to being able to tell people.
Toby Whithouse, thank you very much!
Executioner Number One is playing at the Soho Theatre until Saturday 15th April.
Tickets can be foundhere.
