Stella Europa: Who Speaks for Europe?

The play pits the growing popular support of the BIP against the assumptions and connections of the British political establishment. It pits a passionate belief in the peace of Europe, reason, respect, understanding and dignity in public affairs against a passionate belief in ‘Britain for the British, escape from Europe, our money, our jobs’. This is now, this is what is happening in the Spring of 2015. The BIP has momentum, the case for Britain in Europe is on the back foot, where’s the passion? Stella Herbert, professor of philosophy, believes passionately in the values of Europe. Nicholas Formio, leader of the British Independence Party, targets the General Election in May 2015. Stella detests Formio’s far-right politics and his disdain for Europe while consuming large sums of European taxpayers’ money. Ally Erskine, one of her students, and John Dove, a charismatic poet/lecturer, urge her to stand for Parliament against Formio. Ally is bitter, feels demeaned by Stella; she does not know she loves John; John (the lover of Lady Mary, Stella’s mother) has social pretensions but no money.Ally sucks John into the worlds of pornography and passport-trafficking, on the way ensnaring Laura Anscombe, rising TV presenter of current affairs. Stella takes on Formio in the May 2015 election campaign and politics; sex and blackmail cause the political establishment and the new media underbelly to smash.