Written by Eric Bogosian
Directed by Robert Falls
Synopsis: An acerbic radio talk show host, Barry Champlain, based in Dallas starts what could be an important few days when he discovers that his controversial late night show is about to be 'picked up' by a nationwide network of radio stations. However, all is not perfect for him, because on top of troubles with his love life and fears that the management of the network will try to alter the content of his show he has to cope with a neo-nazi group who have been angered by his forthright opinions.
NEW YORK TIMES:
"Liev Schreiber doesn’t merely fill a stage, as great actors are said to do. In the gut-grabbing revival of Eric Bogosian’s “Talk Radio,” which opened last night at the Longacre Theater, Mr. Schreiber’s presence seems to fill the air as inescapably as weather. You get the feeling that even if you shut your eyes and plugged your ears, he would still be gnawing at your senses and manipulating your mood."
Read the whole review HERE.
NEW YORK POST:
" For despite the energized, valiant efforts of director Robert Falls and the whole cast, quite apart from Schreiber's own deeply controlled virtuosity, the play, opening last night at the Longacre Theatre, today has the weary air of a one-trick pony, bristling with bells and whistles, stuck on a treadmill."
Read the whole review HERE.
VARIETY:
""Enter angry" might be the stage direction that introduces the riveting Liev Schreiber as Cleveland shock jock Barry Champlain in "Talk Radio." "Kill 'em all," he snarls, wishing for a gun to mow down bad drivers. Many performances would have no place to go but down from that kind of boiling rage. But Schreiber proceeds, over the course of a 105-minute single act, to fuel the character's dyspeptic ferocity with bourbon, coffee, cigarettes, Pepto-Bismol and scalding contempt, ratcheting it up by agonizing degrees until the armor of his godlike superiority cracks to reveal the self-doubt and disgust beneath. Or is all that just part of Barry's performance too?"
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NEWSDAY:
" Talk Radio" -- an Off-Broadway hit in 1987 and an Oliver Stone movie in 1988 -- was never more than a one-note performance piece with human background. And though everyone in Robert Falls' production plays that note clearly, it still is. But Schreiber plays it with the magnificent conviction of someone who believes, at least for now, that it's the only one on the keyboard."
Read the whole review HERE.
NEW YORK SUN:
"The studio walls of Cleveland's WTLK radio — the setting for Eric Bogosian's potent "Talk Radio" — are covered in soundproofing as far as the eye can see. The yards upon yards of padding that make up much of Mark Wendland's imposing all-black set, it seems, would successfully muffle Armageddon. Barry Champlain, however, is another matter."
Read the whole review HERE.
NY1 ON STAGE:
"Eric Bogosian's 20-year-old in-your-face play about a combative talk radio host remains set in 1987 as it was in the original production when Bogosian starred. But aside from some dated references, the show's toxic universe is universal. And thanks to a bravura performance from Liev Schreiber, “Talk Radio” still has a lot to say. "
Read the whole review HERE.
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