An Opera About Margeret Thatcher Is Set to Premiere This June
In this already divisive time, a musical work recalls one of modern history’s most polarizing figures to stage at London’s Kings Place.
By John Mary Lim · June 2, 2026
Dubbed the “Iron Lady” by a Soviet journalist, Thatcher embraced her new moniker in her 1976 speech, ensuring the nickname would stick around to this day. Indeed the name would serve as the title for an upcoming musical boasting to be the first opera that explores her time in office.
premiering on June 12, 2026, Mrs T: The Iron Lady Sings combines the music of composer Joseph Phibbs and libretto of historian and The Rest Is History podcast host Dominic Sandbrook. The work is set in the 1980s and is said to focus more on the human elements surrounding Thatcher’s story. Sandbrook and Phibbs note how her time in office carried the “scale, emotional depth and wit of a Shakespearean play.” Elsewhere, Phibbs described her as a “type of Lady Macbeth figure.”