Deep in the bowels of a tabloid newspaper office, the clock is ticking with only an hour left before the presses have to roll.
A controversial photo of a topless children's TV star has mysteriously turned up - but who sent it? And is it really all it seems?
This sensational photo also poses a moral conundrum, exposing deceit, lies and a darker secret that mustn't be revealed at any cost.
Is celebrity entitled to privacy, or are they fair game for feeding time at the tabloid zoo?
Damages is a witty and contemporary (im) morality tale of power-hungry hacks, suicidal sub editors and razor-sharp lawyers.
It was performed at The Bush Theatre in 2004 and won the Arts Council's Meyer-Whitworth Award for new writing. Although now 10 years old, this play deals with our fascination with “celebrity” and everything that encompasses and demonstrates that it still has relevance, if not more so, in today’s society.
Stephen Thompson (born 1967) is a British playwright and screenwriter. He trained on the RADA playwrights' course. In 2005 he was made Pearson writer in residence at The Bush where his next play
Steve has also written extensively for television and film; most notably for
As well as a fantastic writer, Steve is also a great actor, director, musician and all-round thoroughly great guy.
Post-Show Discussion: After the Friday evening performance there will be a post-show discussion with the writer, director and the cast and crew of the show. Details available here.
This amateur production is presented by arrangement with Josef Weinberger Ltd.
CAST
Bas
Chris Moseley
Abigail
Emma Nash
Howard
Ian Bennett
Lister
Jason Wrightam
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Adrian Bhagat went to see Damages at the Lace Market Theatre
Back in 2004 the cult of celebrity was growing, with famous-for-being-famous nobodies regularly gracing the pages of the tabloids. The excesses of the tabloid press outraged public opinion. This prompted Steve Thompson to write his play Damages, which examines the ethics of the press, their effect on celebrity culture and their regulation in law. Fast forward ten years and we have lived through the phone hacking scandal and the publication of the Leveson Report. So, can this play still shock and is it still relevant?
The action takes place at the night desk of a tabloid newspaper. Three generations of journalists are present. Firstly there is Howard, the ancient relic of more genteel times, calmly sits at his desk, calmly proofreading pages with a glass of wine in one hand and his editor’s pencil in the other. Next is Lister, the brash, shouty, angry, sexist editor of popular imagination (and reality). Finally, Bas (played by Chris Moseley) is the young, university-educated, ambitious, charming new night editor, worlds apart from Lister with a desire to make journalism more principled and relevant. Perhaps back in 2004 he was meant to represent the likes of Andy Coulson?
The issue taxing the night desk staff is whether to publish a topless picture taken through a paparazzo's telescopic lens of a children’s TV presenter and the backside of an unknown man, apparently not her husband. The right of free speech versus privacy, and the public interest defence to bring down supposedly hypocritical public figures are debated with the help of Abigail, a smart barrister with a sarcastic manner. The various generations of journalists clash as they defend their respective values. We discover that the gritty, unpleasant Lister is actually motivated by moral principles gained during his working class upbringing, whereas Bas’s morals are rather more flexible.
Unfortunately, the issues here seem a little dated and trivial. I guess we will have to wait a while for a new play that ups the ante and reflects the depths to which we now know the press are capable of sinking. However, what make this an enjoyable evening are the dramatic course of events, the funny dialogue and the history between the various characters. What really saves the day are the excellent performances from each member of the cast, who have been well chosen from the Lace Market Theatre’s amateur company. Ian Bennett is perfect as Howard, with excellent comic timing. Jason Wrightam is convincingly angry and despotic. However, the show is stolen by Emma Nash as Abigail, who delivers her sarcastic interjections with great timing in a very competent performance.
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DAMAGES
Nottingham Lace Market Theatre
Staged in the bijou and intimate upstairs space, "Damages" written by Steve Thompson is another one of those little gems of a play that the Lace Market Theatre are so good at finding and staging. And what a little sparkler this one is! It has been a while since I have had the pleasure of watching a play that gives you that "eureka" moment when you get the gist of what the previous sections were actually building up to. It will draw you in and have you eager for the outcome, like unwrapping a parcel in pass the parcel, stripping away the layers to get the eventual goodie at the finale.
Played out in real time,"Damages" is about a newspaper steaming towards its' deadline and the night editor and the journalists deciding which story to run, and especially the front page "splash". They then receive a picture of a topless children's TV star which is guaranteed to be a media smash. But all is not as it first seems and the private, and not so private revelations, after this supposed exclusive are as lascivious as the proposed news story. Good job that they have Abigail, the "legal eagle" on hand to advise, now isn't it?
What an amazingly good cast!
Howard, played by Ian Bennett, is the more than dedicated editor in charge, proof reader, and the calmest of the newspaper staff, staying way past his timeline to make sure the job gets done. Old fashioned and reliable and a complete opposite to the other characters working for the paper. Ian has some great facial expressions, some that show that an expression can replace any number of words in the script. He's likeable even though at first he comes across as Mr Grumpy, this exterior softens with the appearance of Abigail, and he becomes the equivalent of your favourite elder uncle.
Abigail, the legal saviour of the play is played oh so stylishly and knowledgeably by Emma Nash. Bringing sexy back to the legal side of the newspaper, in more ways than one as we discover that that legal advice was not the only thing that Abigail dished out. The recipient of her additional expertise being presented, in the not too distant past, to the "newbie" night editor, Baz, played by Chris Moseley.
Chris plays Baz as the, possibly over eager and hungry to reach the top, Baz. The good looking office person who is always a hit with the ladies, including Abigail, which via this airing of their dirty laundry, exposes something that he may have wished had not been forced into the open, but needing to be revealed for the sake of the story that Lister is adamant on running.
And finally there is Lister, trying to keep the baying of Baz's hunger at bay. There is a really explosive scene which involves Lister really losing it with Baz which is an absolutely brilliantly emotive and explosive part of the play, and is also an excuse for some more revelations from Lister's past. Jason Wrightam plays Lister with fire and in these close surroundings you can feel that fire directed at Baz and you're able to see the veins standing to attention in Jason/Lister's facial expressions.
Each of the four characters will evoke an emotion from you and all are the kind you will find in any high flying and deadline driven environment. Utterly believable and all quite likeable in their own way.
A fascinating play with plenty of laughs, due to the excellent one liners, but is also a play which challenges morality and also provides the viewer with an inside to the newspaper business and its' cut throat behind-the-scenes actions, and also the legal side of the media, so educational as well as very very entertaining.
Read the original article here.
Review: Damages, Lace Market Theatre
A sleazy tabloid gets its paws on a picture of a children’s TV celebrity – topless. She’s with what appears to be a toy boy. But is the picture all it seems? And should or should it not be published?
Damages, the first play of the Lace Market Theatre’s new season, was topical when it appeared a decade ago; and it’s even more topical now. It goes over in some depth all the arguments about privacy versus public interest, and the way that celebs court the media when it suits but try to get it neutered when it doesn’t.
Along the way we learn a lot about the intertwined private lives of the four characters featured: three male hacks and Abigail (Emma Nash), an attractive night lawyer in black power suit and heels who’s helping out.
It all happens in a seedy newspaper office – and Emma Pegg’s splendid design has the upstairs studio audience sitting right in it, a big plus if you like intimate and immediate theatre.
It’s an engrossing story where you care about the outcome. And it’s well written, with lots of snappy dialogue; in fact it often sounds like an episode from a sitcom. This might partly account for the tendency of the actors to be over-emphatic and to go for soap-like gesticulation. And for a lot of the time no one sounds as if he/she is saying the lines for the first time, which ought usually to be the case.
The portrayal of life in a newspaper office is like the Street of Shame column in Private Eye – one of the best bits is when Lister (Jason Wrightam) bursts in bellowing for young Bas’s (Chris Moseley) guts. And by the end of the play the filing cabinet has taken some very bad kickings.
But how strictly realistic is the whole thing? Considering they’re supposed to be busy, and desperate to meet a deadline, there seems to be an awful lot of inconsequential chit-chat. And office practice seems remarkably old-fashioned, even for 2004.
Howard (Ian Bennett), an old sweat in a cardigan and bow tie, sits at a computer-free desk listening to classical musack as he scribbles. Although he calls the Spice Girls the Spicey Girls, he turns out in the end to be more in touch with popular culture than he appears to be.
Directed by Andrew Nash, Damages is an excellent start to the LMT season.
Read the original article here.
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