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| National Theatre to stage play about phone-hacking scandal | National Theatre to stage play about phone-hacking scandal |
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| The phone-hacking scandal is not short of drama: Rupert Murdoch smeared with shaving foam in the House of Commons; the out-of-nowhere closure of the News of the World; the whole moral landscape that persuaded journalists that illegally listening to other people's phones was ethically acceptable. | The phone-hacking scandal is not short of drama: Rupert Murdoch smeared with shaving foam in the House of Commons; the out-of-nowhere closure of the News of the World; the whole moral landscape that persuaded journalists that illegally listening to other people's phones was ethically acceptable. |
| If you think the material is ripe for the stage, you would be right: the saga is being transformed into a play for the National Theatre in London. | If you think the material is ripe for the stage, you would be right: the saga is being transformed into a play for the National Theatre in London. |
| The author is Richard Bean, the writer behind the London and Broadway hit One Man, Two Guvnors. Bean also wrote England People Very Nice, the 2009 comedy about immigration to the East End of London that provoked both critical praise and bewilderment – and was subject to protests because of its perceived racial stereotyping. | The author is Richard Bean, the writer behind the London and Broadway hit One Man, Two Guvnors. Bean also wrote England People Very Nice, the 2009 comedy about immigration to the East End of London that provoked both critical praise and bewilderment – and was subject to protests because of its perceived racial stereotyping. |
| Bean described the new work to Australian newspaper the Age as a "state-of-the-nation, press, politics and police in bed with each other" play about hacking, set in a tabloid newsroom. It will be, he said, "all tits and bingo, gay vicars – the typical tabloid fare, funny but grotesque". | Bean described the new work to Australian newspaper the Age as a "state-of-the-nation, press, politics and police in bed with each other" play about hacking, set in a tabloid newsroom. It will be, he said, "all tits and bingo, gay vicars – the typical tabloid fare, funny but grotesque". |
| The play was commissioned, according to the National Theatre's artistic director, Sir Nicholas Hytner, when Bean was working on One Man, Two Guvnors. "He tells us he's nearly ready to deliver it. We don't know when it will be produced," said Hytner. A spokeswoman for Bean also confirmed the play was a work in progress and "not quite ready yet". | The play was commissioned, according to the National Theatre's artistic director, Sir Nicholas Hytner, when Bean was working on One Man, Two Guvnors. "He tells us he's nearly ready to deliver it. We don't know when it will be produced," said Hytner. A spokeswoman for Bean also confirmed the play was a work in progress and "not quite ready yet". |
| Bean, who worked in a Hull bread factory, in human resources and as a standup comedian before writing full-time, might be regarded as the perfect author for the material: his gift for dark, fast-moving and morally counterintuitive comedy is well known. He is unlikely to take any obvious or "preachy" path through the saga. | Bean, who worked in a Hull bread factory, in human resources and as a standup comedian before writing full-time, might be regarded as the perfect author for the material: his gift for dark, fast-moving and morally counterintuitive comedy is well known. He is unlikely to take any obvious or "preachy" path through the saga. |
| Despite his huge success with One Man, Two Guvnors, which has transformed his popular reputation, he does not quite have the Midas touch: his adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo, which was scheduled to be the National's Christmas show for 2012, was cancelled. He told the Times earlier this year: "It didn't work. Too much plot and too little characterisation. Anyone who's ever read the book should sympathise." | Despite his huge success with One Man, Two Guvnors, which has transformed his popular reputation, he does not quite have the Midas touch: his adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo, which was scheduled to be the National's Christmas show for 2012, was cancelled. He told the Times earlier this year: "It didn't work. Too much plot and too little characterisation. Anyone who's ever read the book should sympathise." |
| He is also the last writer to trot out liberal cliches. He once told the Guardian: "The problem with our playwrights is that they're all so polite. They daren't say anything about anybody, unless they're slagging off America. What would Joe Orton do if he were alive? He'd go around, find the open wound and pour salt in it." | He is also the last writer to trot out liberal cliches. He once told the Guardian: "The problem with our playwrights is that they're all so polite. They daren't say anything about anybody, unless they're slagging off America. What would Joe Orton do if he were alive? He'd go around, find the open wound and pour salt in it." |
| While the Guardian's Michael Billington, reviewing England People Very Nice, felt it "left a sour taste in the mouth" and "manipulates a series of comic stereotypes", the Observer's Susannah Clapp called it "a giddily enjoyable evening". She added: "The play has been denounced as a display of racial stereotypes. Actually it is a pageant about prejudice." | While the Guardian's Michael Billington, reviewing England People Very Nice, felt it "left a sour taste in the mouth" and "manipulates a series of comic stereotypes", the Observer's Susannah Clapp called it "a giddily enjoyable evening". She added: "The play has been denounced as a display of racial stereotypes. Actually it is a pageant about prejudice." |
| In an interview this year, Bean described his dramatic approach – which gives an intriguing hint of what might be in store when applied to the characters and moral dilemmas of the pre-Leveson tabloid newsroom. He said: "If you do Punch and Judy as a play and you make Punch a complete cunt from the off, everyone's just going to go: 'Yeah, hmm, domestic violence is a terrible thing.' If you make Punch funny, charismatic, charming – if people think: 'Ooh, good, Punch is back on stage again' – it doesn't mean you're in favour of domestic violence. But you've got a play, haven't you?" | In an interview this year, Bean described his dramatic approach – which gives an intriguing hint of what might be in store when applied to the characters and moral dilemmas of the pre-Leveson tabloid newsroom. He said: "If you do Punch and Judy as a play and you make Punch a complete cunt from the off, everyone's just going to go: 'Yeah, hmm, domestic violence is a terrible thing.' If you make Punch funny, charismatic, charming – if people think: 'Ooh, good, Punch is back on stage again' – it doesn't mean you're in favour of domestic violence. But you've got a play, haven't you?" |
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