Theater review: Talk Radio

by Mary L. Clark of John Garcia's The Column

I must state from the start that I am not a fan of talk radio or talk television, especially what is being broadcast today. All the holier than thou, hate-filled pontification of these so-called "shock jocks", such as Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and Bill Maher wafting across the airwaves and into our thoughts and beliefs.

It makes for falsehoods and unwarranted fear and insecurity across our country. There, I said it.

What boggles my mind is how unbelievably popular these formats are and that is why Talk Radio by Eric Bogosian is as fresh a piece of theatre today as it was over 20 years ago when first produced.

Having such a mindset toward these "talking heads", as I call them, I was curious to see Upstart Productions and Project X: Theatre's presentation. Talk Radio is an intense interpretation based on two or three real life radio hosts including Alan Berg who ran a show in Denver and was murdered for apparently getting too close to the truth with his opinions.

Performed in a small black box space down in the small industry/warehouse setting west of downtown Dallas, one could feel as if this was exactly where the radio station might be located. As befits the play, the set consists of a central desk/console area where each radio host does their particular show. Behind are three window booths where staffers screen calls, line up the best callers, play the commercials and promos and generally make the show run smoothly.

Barry Champlain is the star of Night Talk, an extremely popular Cleveland late night radio show with a fan base of the lonely, the misfit, the paranoid, the anti-social and racially bigoted who are looking for their fifteen minutes of fame or recognition. Champlain is the circus master who manipulates each caller fed to him by his long-time right-hand man, Stu Noonan. Champlain brings out the worst in these dupes in order to accentuate their fears and hatreds for better ratings and to keep his listeners begging for more. This chain-smoking, heavy-drinking egoist holds the microphone up as his "wall" between the caller's frailties and his own.

Assisting him in his nightly quest for the "truth" as he sees it are his staffers. Besides Stu, there is Spike, the sound man, making it all happen electronically. Linda is, I believe, his Public Relations girl -- and sometimes girlfriend -- when it suits him. In truth, we don't know much about the people who make Champlain who he is on air until they step out from behind the glass booths and share their relationship with this particular shock jock. Only through their remembrances do we get inside the real Barry Champlain -- the workings of his mind and the making of his career.

On this austere night, the announcement is made that Night Talk is about to go national. The show's producer is there with the good news and a now more censoring ear to how Champlain works his magic. That doesn't sit too well with our star and so the night goes slowly downhill, culminating with one of the young fans being allowed into the inner sanctum of the show's world.

We are made to feel somewhat voyeuristic in this production as the actors enter and exit from the audience emphasizing how outside we truly are. As written, all actors' roles are small in comparison to Champlain's and I was thankful for the monologues.

Tony Martin, as Stu, had the easy going manner of a former rock and roll roadie but lacked some of that "in the moment" feeling with his monologue. Darren Steptoe was fine as the sound man. Meridith Morton, playing staffer Linda MacArthur, found a good level to her emotional feelings for Champlain.

Shane Beeson played Dan Woodruff, the producer, and it was here that I found out the most about our host. It is not easy to step out from the background, take immediate front stage and speak to the audience as if in casual conversation. Beeson mastered the artistry naturally. A real treat was the characterization of Kent, the youthful fan caller.

Joey Folsom played this character to the hilt. Looking like young Kevin Bacon, he had a vacant-headed laugh that was both amusing and irritating. He played it drug-high stupid and all too real. Besides Beeson and Folsom, the other talk show hosts, staffers and callers were played by Raquel Lydia Leal, Michael Rains, Lulu Ward and Clay Wheeler.

I give great credit to these actors who portrayed various genders, ages and nationalities of callers to the talk show. While commendable, I do have one suggestion. In my years in theatre I was always told that if an accent or dialect is not spot on, leave it out.

And then there is Barry Champlain himself. While the role is not entirely a one-man tour de force, it is the central hub from which all the humor (it is funny), the tension and eventual catharsis comes from. Everything and everyone bounces off Champlain and Elias Taylorson plays the part honorably. Mainly sitting the entire show with headsets on while bantering into a live mike and interacting with people he cannot see is masterful. He had lighting fast timing and knew how to slowly build each caller to the next emotional level before cutting them off. How Taylorson continued his loud vocal tirades while smoking cigarette after cigarette is by itself impressive.

Kari Heyne Engelbrecht's costumes looked as if they came from each actor's closet which is exactly as they should look. Scott Payne's lighting had that utilitarian starkness making it dim, ugly and depressive. Sound design by Mason York cleverly stated the time period with radio commercials and promos that were fun to hear again. We chuckled at the political ad for Michael Dukakis.

Reading the playbill I found that Upstart Productions took its name from an early description of a young William Shakespeare. The definition of upstart is "to rise suddenly" or "a start up enterprise".

While hardly just starting up, Upstart Productions is certainly a rising force theatrically in the Dallas metroplex. It was a bold move to take on this piece. It could have been played merely for shock value but instead they accurately mirrored the ever enlarging gluttony for talk radio in today's culture. You can't be on the fence with this. You either hate them or love them.

What you won't hate is this production in its depiction of the world Eric Bogosian flayed open for us to see. Though I don't hold much hope, maybe it can help dethrone some of these "gods of the airwaves" a little and show them in the true light they deserve.