When Jack Nicholson’s character Colonel Nathan R. Jessep (a pathological liar) roared “You can’t handle the truth!” at the younger Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee (speaking truth to power), played by Tom Cruise, in the film A Few Good Men (see it if you haven’t) the audience would almost certainly have been on Kaffee’s side, even if there was some truth in what Jessep said. However, in this ‘post-truth world’ facts and data, meaning proven evidence, seem to matter less than opinion and belief, which effectively means you can believe whatever you like. Which is of course why conspiracy theories are bountiful and believed by millions. But in end the ‘truth’ will out, or will it?
In Tracey Scott Wilson’s 2003 play, The Story (National Theatre), we are asked to consider the origin of a story, how the facts are gathered and what that ending may be when considering the various narratives. Or in journalistic language to think about the who, what, where, when and why with ‘why’ being the most important question to answer. We see a go-getting, young black reporter Yvonne (Letitia Wright) who, much to her displeasure, has been shifted to write stories specifically about the Black community when her desire is to be up, front and centre of the main news reports. Even having a boss, Jeff (Wolf Scolding) as a secret lover, does nothing to give her what she passionately wants.
Off she goes to land en exclusive, a story that will get her noticed and seal the deal with editor Pat (Lorraine Toussaint). Tim Dunn (Josh Goulding), a white teacher has been shot in a run-down neighbourhood, and according to her source, the culprit may not be an obvious suspect. Anna Fleischle’s design of a basketball court is a neat idea, the opening tip-off in this game snapping into an energy and pace that is probably exactly like director Clint Dyer wants, the constant dynamic plays in a match. The style is sharp and informational and although the play was written over twenty years ago that style is far more indicative of today’s 24-hour news cycle where news moves in seconds which also means there is enormous pressure to be first with a story. News after all is also a game of winners and losers.
And therein lies the challenge for a theatrical production. Moving the story along is one thing but narrating at pace requires a lot of your audience. By the end of the first act I struggled to understand what point we had reached in the story. All that despite some cracking work by a first-rate cast including Aliyah Odoffin as Latisha, the source who is a fine example of a person demonstrating the precarious nature of a journalist being misled and getting it wrong while Wright nails it with Yvonne, smart and contemptible. Ashley Thomas also impresses as Neil, an experienced journalist with political nous.
They work hard, they have to – constant time and place switching – with quick cuts and accompanying lighting changes, repeated unrelentingly. The detail (facts) is not the point, how the journalists go about their business is what Scott Wilson wants us to remember, not the ending. That is all very well, and truth to tell, their disagreements, clash of egos and pithy comments are engaging. However it becomes tiring and irksome trying to keep up.
Nevertheless, despite my style misgivings the play does strike a chord of how stories originate, all the hard graft that follows to verify what journalists have heard and been told and when that money moment is finally reached to go live. After seeing the show, I listened to a radio programme in which a panel of media folk were talking about just that, and how the decision last week of the US president to ban certain media outlets from the White House would impact their work. Discuss.
So turn on, tune in and check out the truth as you see and hear it, even if the online world has changed it all, making it hard to believe much of what we see. Or maybe Nicholson was right, we can’t handle the truth, at least not the version we are told to believe. This is a play that should be seen but maybe go see a basketball game first to understand what is required to keep up with the interplay.
The Story – www.nationaltheatre.org.uk