Blunkett affair on stage
2005-01-28 21:39
London - The tangled love life of David Blunkett, Britain's former Home Secretary, is to be turned into a musical, the Daily Telegraph reported Friday.
The 57-year-old, blind minister and close ally of Prime Minister Tony Blair resigned in December over a love affair with a married woman.
The show's producers told the Telegraph that the "decline and fall" of Blunkett and the "highly charged atmosphere" surrounding his affair with Kimberley Quinn, 44-year-old publisher of Spectator magazine, had "huge entertainment potential".
"We will show another side, too, because it is a tragi-comedy", said co-producer Martin Witts.
He wanted to portray the story of Blunkett's rise as a blind boy from an underprivileged background to the top "before this tragedy befell him", added Witts.
The musical, which is to be given a preview in April, is being written by journalist Ginny Dougary, in cooperation with MJ, an American composer, the paper said.
Quinn, married to publisher Stephen Quinn, is currently pregnant with her second child.
Blunkett, who had a three-year-affair with Quinn, has started proceedings to prove that he is the father of Quinn's two-year-old son, William. He has also claimed to be the father of the child Quinn is expecting. - Sapa-dpa
- SAPA