London Zoo by Farine Clarke. Southwark Playhouse, the Little, 77 Newington Causeway, London to 30 March 2024.

2✩✩ Review: William Russell.

“A drama about the slow death of newspapers – the problem is the play is dead.”

This account of the death throes of the newspaper industry in spite of the efforts of the cast never takes fire – the machinations involving managing directors, board members, the predatory takeover bids, the cuts in costs and all that has happened and is happening are there but to absolutely no dramatic effect. It may have done in previous incarnations – the piece dates from 2007 - as the London Pubs Theatre Awards gave it best production and ensemble acting prizes in 2022 but as I did not see it let that pass. This staging simply does not work. Certainly today the newspaper industry, especially the regional press, is in a pretty bad way and there probably is a play to be written. Currently there is the bid by Redbeard IMI to acquire the Daily Telegraph, one of the sacred monsters of Fleet Street to worry about, Redbeard being owned by the United Arab Republic where nobody seems to have heard of press freedom. Right wing or not the Telegraph keeps that by and large for its comment columns not for its news reporting which is not true of all of Fleet Street admittedly. But all of them, right or left wing, can say what they like within the limits of the law without Government interference. Arabella (Natalie Lauren) is the token female member of the board, Charles (Simon Furness) is the accountant for whom the numbers matter, but who is not prepared to play the numbers game if it requires faking them. They fall fowl of Christian (Harris Vaughan) the machiavellian chairman of the board, not to mention the bigger boss Alex (Dan Saski), an American who has a very bad temper, and Sunil (Anirban Roy), a racist, who appears to be the predator in the wings. The other victim is Kelvin (Odimegwu Okoye), editor of The Daily Word, the newspaper being taken over, a believer in editorial freedom, who is faced with the demands for cuts by the money men and knows he will not survive what is to come. It all dragged on drearily – the coffee in the coffee pot they all kept using during meetings must have been stone cold by the end of act one – although in act two things bucked up a bit after Arabella, faced with the sack, finally fought back and Charles, in the same position, managed to strike a blow for freedom, accurate accounting and - somewhat implausibly - put the awful Christian on the spot. Various issues, including attitudes to women in the work place and racist attitudes get raised as well as press freedom but to little effect. Newspapers as we know and knew them may be heading for the end of days but the play is already dead.

Cast

Simon Furness – Charles.

Natalie Lauren – Arabella.

Odimegwu Okoye – Kelvin.

Anirban Roy – Sunil.

Dan Saski- Alex.

Christian – Harris Vaughan.

Creatives

Director – Farine Clarke.

Lighting Designer – Chuma Emombolu.

Videography – Borne Motion.

Special Adviser – Linda Marlow.