Post by caitlen on Sept 8, 2009 7:56:13 GMT -5
20-year-old play still rings true
By Jessica Testa
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
In a world where communication has become associated with the use of the Internet, it’s hard to make an argument for the power of spoken words.
But more than 20 years after its debut, Eric Bogosian’s 1987 play “Talk Radio” does just that.
“Talk Radio” opened just over a week ago at Scottsdale’s Chyro Arts Venue. Directed by Tom Leveen, the play follows a Cleveland “shock jock” through a night that will determine his program’s shot at national syndication.
Chyro Arts is an interesting performance space. Nearly hidden in a South Scottsdale shopping plaza, the venue is filled with mismatched couches, colorful walls scattered with art and a coffee bar visitors pass on the way to their seats.
The intimate venue provides an appropriate setting for “Talk Radio,” a production that takes a behind-the-scenes look at a controversial talk radio show.
Thousands of listeners tune in every night for host Barry Champlain’s rants against contemporary America and the riotous insults he throws at callers. But on the other side of the microphone, Champlain toes the line between persona and personality. The play becomes less about the program and focuses more on the inner struggles of its host.
Mike Peck plays a commanding Barry Champlain. Peck’s Regan-era shock jock mirrors today’s Bill O’Reilly, fluent in anger, ego and extremism, lamenting the wasteland of America’s virtues.
“This country is in deep trouble,” Champlain says, practically taking the words out of O’Reilly’s mouth — or vice-versa.
After his important night is filled with over-the-top callers — including a transvestite, an anti-Semite, a teenager claiming to watch his girlfriend overdose and a woman afraid of her garbage disposal – Champlain breaks down. The play, dramatic and darkly humorous, tracks this unraveling from start to finish.
Peck, who is also Chyro Arts’s managing director, skillfully portrays Champlain with a heavy, dark, cultivated humor. He delivers the production’s most striking scene – nearly a minute of dead air – with only the expression of a broken, disillusioned man.
Peck’s performance stands apart even in his silence, separated from the quick, smart dialogue the “Talk Radio” audience becomes accustomed to.
With Peck’s luminous take on Barry Champlain, the play’s supporting characters become just that – supporting. Though they do provide a background for Champlain’s enigmatic persona, these characters (Champlain’s operator, producer and station manager) play forgettable roles, serving only to illustrate the abusive, arrogant manner Champlain has adopted in his interactions with others.
These characters ultimately function as reminders of how Champlain has become incapable of connection beyond his phone lines, beyond the persistent calls of his eccentric, foolish, often adoring, often despising but never indifferent, listeners – beyond the people who allow Champlain to, as his operator explains, think of himself as God.
The Pulitzer Prize-nominated “Talk Radio” opened off-Broadway in 1987.
Eric Bogosian (now starring in “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”) wrote the script and first starred as Barry Champlain. In 1988, the play was adapted into a film version, also starring Bogosian, directed by Oliver Stone.
Ten years following its debut, the play was revived on Broadway and starred Liev Schreiber (of “Defiance” and the new release “Taking Woodstock”), earning Schreiber a Drama League Award for distinguished performance.
In his final rant, Barry Champlain tells his listeners, “Your fear — your own lives — has become your entertainment.” With the advent of reality television and an increased fixation on celebrity culture, this sentiment still rings true more than 20 years following the play’s debut.
“Talk Radio” is just as relevant in 2009 as it was in 2007 and 1987.
Tickets are $12, and the play runs through Sept. 11.
For more information visit www.chryo.org.
www.statepress.com/node/7288
By Jessica Testa
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
In a world where communication has become associated with the use of the Internet, it’s hard to make an argument for the power of spoken words.
But more than 20 years after its debut, Eric Bogosian’s 1987 play “Talk Radio” does just that.
“Talk Radio” opened just over a week ago at Scottsdale’s Chyro Arts Venue. Directed by Tom Leveen, the play follows a Cleveland “shock jock” through a night that will determine his program’s shot at national syndication.
Chyro Arts is an interesting performance space. Nearly hidden in a South Scottsdale shopping plaza, the venue is filled with mismatched couches, colorful walls scattered with art and a coffee bar visitors pass on the way to their seats.
The intimate venue provides an appropriate setting for “Talk Radio,” a production that takes a behind-the-scenes look at a controversial talk radio show.
Thousands of listeners tune in every night for host Barry Champlain’s rants against contemporary America and the riotous insults he throws at callers. But on the other side of the microphone, Champlain toes the line between persona and personality. The play becomes less about the program and focuses more on the inner struggles of its host.
Mike Peck plays a commanding Barry Champlain. Peck’s Regan-era shock jock mirrors today’s Bill O’Reilly, fluent in anger, ego and extremism, lamenting the wasteland of America’s virtues.
“This country is in deep trouble,” Champlain says, practically taking the words out of O’Reilly’s mouth — or vice-versa.
After his important night is filled with over-the-top callers — including a transvestite, an anti-Semite, a teenager claiming to watch his girlfriend overdose and a woman afraid of her garbage disposal – Champlain breaks down. The play, dramatic and darkly humorous, tracks this unraveling from start to finish.
Peck, who is also Chyro Arts’s managing director, skillfully portrays Champlain with a heavy, dark, cultivated humor. He delivers the production’s most striking scene – nearly a minute of dead air – with only the expression of a broken, disillusioned man.
Peck’s performance stands apart even in his silence, separated from the quick, smart dialogue the “Talk Radio” audience becomes accustomed to.
With Peck’s luminous take on Barry Champlain, the play’s supporting characters become just that – supporting. Though they do provide a background for Champlain’s enigmatic persona, these characters (Champlain’s operator, producer and station manager) play forgettable roles, serving only to illustrate the abusive, arrogant manner Champlain has adopted in his interactions with others.
These characters ultimately function as reminders of how Champlain has become incapable of connection beyond his phone lines, beyond the persistent calls of his eccentric, foolish, often adoring, often despising but never indifferent, listeners – beyond the people who allow Champlain to, as his operator explains, think of himself as God.
The Pulitzer Prize-nominated “Talk Radio” opened off-Broadway in 1987.
Eric Bogosian (now starring in “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”) wrote the script and first starred as Barry Champlain. In 1988, the play was adapted into a film version, also starring Bogosian, directed by Oliver Stone.
Ten years following its debut, the play was revived on Broadway and starred Liev Schreiber (of “Defiance” and the new release “Taking Woodstock”), earning Schreiber a Drama League Award for distinguished performance.
In his final rant, Barry Champlain tells his listeners, “Your fear — your own lives — has become your entertainment.” With the advent of reality television and an increased fixation on celebrity culture, this sentiment still rings true more than 20 years following the play’s debut.
“Talk Radio” is just as relevant in 2009 as it was in 2007 and 1987.
Tickets are $12, and the play runs through Sept. 11.
For more information visit www.chryo.org.
www.statepress.com/node/7288