We've been here before. While last year’s The Death of Margaret Thatcher was the Michael Foot of dead-Tory-leader drama, Maggie’s End has the perky feel of early edition Tony Blair.

The fact that its lead sponsor is the North-East area branch of the NUM gives a fair idea of where its sympathies lie, but whether we agree with writers Ed Waugh and Trevor Wood or not, we can’t help but admire their nifty illustration of how British politics has slipped inexorably into a murky middle-ground. There’s little messing about with the scenario. Mrs T has died, and the Labour government, represented by oily Home Secretary Neil Callaghan (Russell Floyd), is intent on giving her a state funeral and damn the consequences. We spy trouble ahead when we learn that Callaghan’s PPS, the ambitious Rosa (Johanne Murdock), comes from a family so traditionally Left-wing it traces its allegiance back to Keir Hardie. Dad Leon (Mark Wingett), now a raddled politics lecturer, was even imprisoned as a poll tax refusenik.

Admittedly there are times when Jack Milner’s production limps along, propelled by some good jokes (“Did you actually see somebody put a stake through her heart?” elicits the loudest laugh) and generous reserves of Attlee-era sentiment from the audience.

Nevertheless, it brims appealingly with undeniable passion, something that few dramas boast for all their intellectual posturing. David Hare’s recent Gethsemane, for instance, a similar lament about the corrosion of traditional Labour values, might have been more elegant, but it had less oomph.

The committed cast could do with remembering that the preaching needs to extend beyond row F of the converted, and project accordingly. Occasionally they look exposed on this large playing area, Callaghan and Rosa carrying on — in every sense of the phrase — stage right, and Leon and his fiery second wife Susie (Melanie Hill) across from them. When Rosa traverses those few metres of no-man’s-land, we fully believe she has journeyed from Westminster back home to a chilly reception in the North-East.

Maggie’s End might toy with Old Tories and New Labour, but what it boils down to is that always-engaging clash between pragmatism and idealism, of decent people in impossible situations wondering if they have the strength to stand up and be counted. Murdock skilfully makes us both root and fear for Rosa, whereas Wingett compels as a firebrand turned damp squib who might just have one last spark left in him. In this instance at least, vote Thatcher.
Until 18 April. Box office: 0871 594 3123. www.theshawtheatre.com