The Reporter

Published Friday 23 February 2007 at 11:50 by Jeremy Austin

There is a question over whether Nicholas Wright was too close to the subject of his play to create objectively something that satisfies on a theatrical level.

He vaguely knew Panorama reporter James Mossman and his lover Louis and has drawn together personal recollection as well as the recollections of Mossman’s friends and former colleagues to create this piece, which he emphasises is fictional.

But in doing so, he has created a play that feels as if it has been written by a man sifting through the facts available to try to make sense of a senseless incident and ultimately failing. He sets up the mystery of Mossman’s cryptic suicide note and the premise of seven deaths that affected him and then fails to offer resolution.

Because of that, the first half of the play is a taut, well-constructed affair, drawing the audience into the narrative and the device the author has set up. Afterwards, as Mossman loses his way, so to does Wright as he grabs at the loosening threads of his carefully constructed world, trying to draw them back together.

While the minimal set works - possibly suggesting the confused, vague memories of Mossman - the heavy narration in place of detailed surroundings means that The Reporter would offer no less as a radio play.

That said, performances are good. Ben Chaplin skilfully allows Mossman’s patricianly air to fissure gradually as his world falls apart while Paul Ritter and Patrick Brennan as Robin Day and Harold Wilson respectively act rather than impersonate.

Indeed, Richard Eyre teases subtle performances from his cast where needed, allowing Chris New as brash Louis to crash into Mossman’s life. But this is all delivered against an insubstantial background and ultimately fails to move.