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Pity in History was originally set at the beginning of the English revolution (1642-1651), a civil war that pitted Cromwell's Parliamentarians against King Charles I's Royalists. Tensions ran high about hot-button issues like religion, social class, property and art, and Barker's writing was inspired by Thatcherism and the rejection of political consensus in post WWII Europe. Audiences in 1985 watched the broadcast and saw their politically divided country reflected in the 17th century conflict playing out in Barker's imagination. Today of course, in the dystopian world of Trump and Twitter, the play can't help but reflect recent political events in the United States and Great Britain. Director Richard Romagnoli has set this new stage incarnation of Pity In History in "the present" and in contemporary costumes, but the dialogue (with few exceptions) remains the same as originally presented.