Following the death of Margaret Thatcher yesterday from a stroke, one of the West End’s biggest plays faced the decision as to whether it would have to cut one of the most impactful moments of its script, with the show at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London possibly looking at cutting out a song in the musical that eagerly looks forward to the death of the former British prime minister.

Billy Elliott’s backdrop is the 1984 and 1985 miner’s strike between Thatcher’s government and the National Union of Mineworkers, one of the most pivotal moments of her 11 years in charge of the UK between 1979 and 1990. Given the death of the 87 year-old yesterday, Stephen Daltry, the director of the musical, said that there’d been much discussion about whether to drop the celebratory song.

Eventually, it was decided that the audience should be allowed to vote for whether the song would be allowed to remain in last night’s performance of the show or not. "After an explanation of the song's content and historical context from the stage, the audience voted overwhelmingly for its inclusion in the second act," he said. The song was composed by Sir Elton John with lyrics by Lee Hall, and is performed by miners during a party sequence, including the lyric: "We all celebrate today 'cause it's one day closer to your death."

Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher died yesterday