Eric Bogosian's twenty-year-old play is here revived by The Comedians' Theatre Company and directed by Stewart Lee, a comedian who achieved a great deal of notoriety with his last directing project, Jerry Springer The Opera. With this production, Lee is covering similar ground as he did with Jerry - shows that invite people to share their problems, opinions, quirks and prejudices with the rest of the world - but with a script written before our world of reality television, citizen journalism and 'shock jock' 'phone-in shows had really become established.
The play is set in the studio of a talk radio station, WTLK Cleveland in Ohio, during the live broadcast of Night Talk With Barry Champlain, a show in which all manner of housewives, fascists, neurotics, drug addicts and crusaders for various causes 'phone in and argue with Champlain, who will even insult and cut off those who call to praise him and agree with him. On the eve of the show going national, Barry starts to doubt whether his listeners are really with him on his crusade to seek out truth in the world, or whether they are just listening to be entertained by other people's problems and ridiculous opinions. When he harangues the audience (listening and watching) towards the end, he prophetically states that 'your fear and your own lives have become the entertainment.' How much truer that has become than it was twenty years ago.
The story, such as it is, is rather thinly spread in this play. Most of it consists of Barry dealing with his callers on his show, with a few monologues about him from the other people he works with. The calls are often fascinating or funny, which usually manages to keep the audience's attention even over the worrying creaking of the girders holding up the tent in the strong Scottish winds.
However it is the performances that are the most impressive part of this production, in particular a tour de force performance in the part of Barry Champlain by Phil Nichol. Nichol is also appearing in Sam Shepard's True West at the Assembly Rooms and his own stand-up show The Naked Racist; three productions a day is a tall order for anyone, but the part of Champlain is a massive one, and Nichol does an amazing job of bringing him to life. He has very good support from Mike McShane, Tony Law, Tiffany Stevenson, Will Adamson, Stephen K Amos and Tara Flynn as the station crew and more than thirty voices of callers to the station.
This is one of two major productions at the Fringe this year with a cast of comedians set in the studio of a US 'phone-in radio show, the other being Rich Hall's Levelland at the Assembly Rooms. The Comedians' Theatre Company was formed earlier this year to produce straight dramas with casts of comedians with little or no acting experience. This production certainly proves that some comedians have a great deal of acting talent, and Nichols shows off the talent that won him the Stage Award for acting excellence at last year's Fringe.