Mark Jagasia is a former showbiz journalist whose debut play is a satire set in the offices of the Daily Clarion, a fictional tabloid newspaper. Obsessed with hurling jibes at immigrants, it’s owned by an entrepreneur we never see and edited by the combative, dementedly eloquent Morris Honeyspoon.
The paper’s star writer is Verity Stokes, a boozy veteran who abuses her expense account and is given a nice mix of dryness and twinkly vigour by Clare Higgins. There’s a slightly clunky plot about self-loathing young journo Josh (Ryan Wichert), who is humiliated by Morris and is obliged to risk his neck in pursuit of a ludicrous story. But it’s the portraits of grotesque characters that make the play absorbing and at times devilishly funny.
Morris is especially memorable — a crazed despot prone to wild bursts of paranoid rhetoric. He dismisses his staff’s insipid ideas by honking a car horn in their faces, and swoops around the office like a vulture. He brandishes a centurion’s helmet and delights in sneering at multiculturalism, Glastonbury and sun-dried tomatoes.
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Mehmet Ergen’s direction is workmanlike, and the smaller roles aren’t convincingly drawn, but Jagasia writes with verve about the dark consequences of attention-seeking headlines. It’s also a thrill to see Greg Hicks, an actor who often seems stately and aloof, having a complete blast as Morris.
Until May 16 (020 7503 1646, arcolatheatre.com)
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