‘Quiz’ begins with a statement; ‘the English love a pub quiz as it combines their two favourite pastimes, drinking and being right’. As someone who has always loved both of the aforementioned (and even appeared on 15-1 many moons ago), I was always going to be well disposed to a show detailing the rise and fall of ‘The Coughing Major’ and his attempt to cheat his way to the top prize on ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ back in 2001. However, when the writing talents of James Graham are combined with the directorial flair of Daniel Evans, theatrical alchemy is at work and we have a story that makes the leap from the news to the stage in an original, successful and hugely enjoyable manner.
Graham is the most prodigious writer working in television and theatre today, ever since his breakout success with ‘This House’ in 2012, he has chronicled the political and public life of Britain with a caustic eye, unerringly knowing what will work in the context of drama and bringing complex stories to life with clarity and wit to illustrate our societal mores. With ‘Quiz’, he uses the story of Charles and Diana Ingram (Lewis Reeves and Charley Webb) to demonstrate the fickle nature of celebrity in 21st Century Britain and the nature of truth being altered depending on how factual information is presented. In order to best illustrate these wider points, he conflates the game show format of ‘Millionaire’ with the subsequent trial of the couple, presenting both simultaneously and with telling effect.
Director Evans utilises two contrasting sets, alternating with seamless precision between the glitzy television studio and the staid wood panelling of Southwark Crown Court, he manages to draw out the parallels between the two ostensibly contrasting worlds. The Design team led by Robert Jones, create a crackling atmosphere, the audience really feel like they are in the studio for the recording, thumping bass music and blinding spotlights ramp up the tension which then cuts back to the icier and more rational courtroom scenes. Further authenticity is derived from the handsets that the audience use to decide whether the couple are guilty or not, contrasting their views once the cases for the prosecution and defence are delivered. Judging by the poll, our audience shifted massively in their perception of the guilt or innocence of the Ingrams’ during the course of the show. Or did they? Maybe Graham is showing that we can all be manipulated in our perception of what is reality. Either way, all of this is tremendous fun, both the structure of the writing and the directorial decisions employed make this peculiarly English story gripping from start to finish.
Whilst working beautifully as a frothy light entertainment depiction of a media firestorm, ‘Quiz’ also manages to slip in some more acute observations on the way television and truth are not always comfortable bed fellows. We can see this scandal as the opening gambit in the rise of reality television, with unwary ‘ordinary people’ being manipulated, chewed up and spat out to entertain their fellow ‘commoners’ with lives ripped apart once their fifteen minutes of fame is over. When television pronounces on something it is presented as a de facto truth, only by examining these facts from different perspectives can we arrive at a very different conclusion, the rise of the internet allows a wider often differing view that has spawned the conspiracy culture that is so prevalent today. This is juxtaposed against the courtroom offering two very different versions of the same story and asks you to decide which one you believe, a much more binary choice.
The promotion of the show has been heavily weighted to the portrayal of the host Chris Tarrant, in the televised version he was played by Michael Sheen and this UK tour offers the superb Rory Bremner in the role. I am no fan of celebrity casting, but this is an example that really works to add quality to the production. Not only is Bremner pitch perfect in his impersonation of Tarrant, he works well in the context of the entire ensemble and even manages to delight the Salford audience with a cameo Hilda Ogden squeezed into proceedings. The supporting cast were uniformly excellent, all being asked to perform multiple roles throughout the evening, with Marc Antolin and Sukh Ojla particularly eye-catching when employing bizarre regional accents to comic effect. However, Reeves was the standout performance, managing to delineate Major Ingram’s descent from Gilbert & Sullivan’s ‘very model of a modern Major General’ to a laughing stock who was spat at in the street and lost the most ‘immediate jewel of his soul’, his reputation.
Verdict: The combination of superb writing and slick direction make this show a jackpot success. A genuine winner!
Reviewer: Paul Wilcox
Reviewed: 24th October 2023
North West End UK Rating: