Triggered by Emma Burnell at the White Bear, Kennington

The triggering of sitting MPs has been a subject of much controversy. It is a process brought in during the Corbyn years to democratise the party, making MPs more accountable to members. The reality over recent times has seen the right using the process to deselect sitting left MPs. It is against this background that Emma Burnell brought forth this excellent entertaining play, that encapsulates the whole process. The play is set in the fictional constituency of Hollingsdean. The story unveils focusing on just four characters, the sitting MP, Sally Finch, (Antonia Beamish), local chair of Momentum, Jim Marr (Michael Palmer), Blairite, Sadia Peters (Catherine Adams) and NEC representative June Wright (Carrie Cohen). The trigger process unveils with the robust Wright holding the ring. The challenged and sometime affronted centrist MP, the leftie man of principle and the uber ambitious Blairite do battle for the seat. The play running over an hour covers much ground in such a short space of time, exposing divisions and factionalism, as well as a basic goodwill for the common good shared by all candidates. There is much good humour in the play, with final hustings seeing the Red Flag, the Internationale and Things can only get better being sung simultaneously by the various participants. A Westminster insider for 20 years, Burnell does well in bringing the whole trigger process together in such an enlightening and entertaining way. Research included talking to the likes of Jon Landsman and Luke Akehurst from across the political divide. Focusing on the 2019 election, the content though is already ageing, with a final line about Boris Johnson becoming PM and questioning how will he ever be got rid of. Maybe Burnell will need to do a sequel for 2024, looking to how the trigger process has been used during the interim. What is for sure is that Triggered deserves a longer run, once it finishes at the White Bear on Saturday. The Labour Party Conference would be one good future venue.