Feelgood by Alistair Beaton
Great Canadian Theatre Company
Just in time for the Liberal Party leadership convention, the Great Canadian Theatre Company (GCTC) is mounting a production of Feelgood, a political farce by Alistair Beaton, British playwright and former speechwriter for Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Based on the spin doctoring and backroom blunders of the Labour party convention where British Prime Minister Tony Blair pitched The Third Way, the play revolves around Eddie, the press secretary, trying to put the final touches on the Prime Minister's keynote speech in a convention hotel room.
With journalists using industrial machinery to drag the political mire, anti-capitalist riots, GM crop trials going wrong, men growing breasts and ministerial scandals in the background, it's a situation that could derail the convention or perhaps even bring down the government - and Eddie knows it.
"I've done a lot of reading about Alistair Campbell," says Charles McFarland, the play's director, of Blair's lead man. "He took the position of press secretary - chief of staff from the kind of faceless bureaucrat into a kind of media star in its own right - and that's exactly who this character is."
Mr. McFarland describes the tangled web of power relationships between Eddie and various journalists.
"He's in their pockets or they're in his pockets," he says.
"The sense is that this character is really running the government's agenda. I can't be more specific than that, but that's really who Eddie is. Is it Eddie Goldenberg? Well, there's lot of people who think that that's what Eddie Goldenberg does," he says laughing.
Writing in The Guardian, Mr. Beaton describes his thoughts on writing Feelgood, beginning before Blair's arrival at Number 10.
"It was inspired by learning that focus-group guru Philip Gould once had to hide in the wardrobe of Blair's hotel room at [a] conference."
Spitting Image, the hilarious animated political satire, and Not the Nine O'Clock News, are amongst Mr. Beaton's other writing credits.
"A satirist is coming from a point of view of anger," says Mr. McFarland. "Anger at the way that the system pulls the wool over the public's eyes. But this is actually a play that has people aching with laughter." Mr. McFarland traces the play's theatrical lineage in terms of political subject matter, comedy and satire through Oscar Wilde, Noel Coward and 1960s playwright Joe Orton.
"'Cleanse my heart,'" Mr. McFarland quotes Mr. Orton, "'Give me the ability to rage correctly. Laughter is a serious business, and comedy a weapon more dangerous than tragedy.'"
Feelgood also sits nicely alongside other notable British TV series like Yes, Prime Minister and It aint half hot Mum a comedic series satirizing British rule in India.
Lorne Pardy, who plays Eddie and is also the GCTC's artistic director, acknowledges that he follows politics the way an average person does. For him, researching Blair's Third Way, his rise to power and the spin doctoring phenomenon were the challenge in playing this role.
Mr. Pardy admitted that at a time when spin has gone completely out of control, playing Eddie has been "thrilling" and that researching political back rooms and press secretaries has been fascinating.
"Eddie's spin doctoring is put to the test on a very human level by his ex-wife who's a journalist," Mr. Pardy says. Liz, Eddie's ex-wife, is played by Philippa Domville. "Basically after the ministerial scandal comes to light in the play, I need to spin that story immediately. So I get on the phone to all these journalists and realize that she's the one who's been following the story and is going to write the big leaked story. So I have to go after her, and I haven't seen her in a number of years. Our lives together when we were younger were all about political activism, socialism and the miners' strike - so it's actually a really interesting human situation to be in. I actually need her help. I need her to come on side with me."
"She puts me on the spot in a way that makes Eddie the press secretary actually have to ask himself what he really feels about what he's doing."
While Mr. Beaton sees the farcical and comedic aspects to relationships between journalists and press secretaries, his experiences as a speechwriter clearly informed the sobering injections of political substance into the play.
Mr. McFarland notes the scene where Liz tells Eddie that she has information that will bring down the government.
"It's all about responsible journalism," Mr. McFarland adds. "What are the consequences? Are the consequences to bring down the government? … Who do you put in power if you've got a left-leaning socialist agenda and you want to affect radical change, but the affect of your investigative journalism is to bring down a neo liberal government? What's the practical affect of that when you bring in the right wing? It's a really fascinating and complex argument that this play is presenting."
Published in The Hill Times, 2003
With journalists using industrial machinery to drag the political mire, anti-capitalist riots, GM crop trials going wrong, men growing breasts and ministerial scandals in the background, it's a situation that could derail the convention or perhaps even bring down the government - and Eddie knows it.
"I've done a lot of reading about Alistair Campbell," says Charles McFarland, the play's director, of Blair's lead man. "He took the position of press secretary - chief of staff from the kind of faceless bureaucrat into a kind of media star in its own right - and that's exactly who this character is."
Mr. McFarland describes the tangled web of power relationships between Eddie and various journalists.
"He's in their pockets or they're in his pockets," he says.
"The sense is that this character is really running the government's agenda. I can't be more specific than that, but that's really who Eddie is. Is it Eddie Goldenberg? Well, there's lot of people who think that that's what Eddie Goldenberg does," he says laughing.
Writing in The Guardian, Mr. Beaton describes his thoughts on writing Feelgood, beginning before Blair's arrival at Number 10.
"It was inspired by learning that focus-group guru Philip Gould once had to hide in the wardrobe of Blair's hotel room at [a] conference."
Spitting Image, the hilarious animated political satire, and Not the Nine O'Clock News, are amongst Mr. Beaton's other writing credits.
"A satirist is coming from a point of view of anger," says Mr. McFarland. "Anger at the way that the system pulls the wool over the public's eyes. But this is actually a play that has people aching with laughter." Mr. McFarland traces the play's theatrical lineage in terms of political subject matter, comedy and satire through Oscar Wilde, Noel Coward and 1960s playwright Joe Orton.
"'Cleanse my heart,'" Mr. McFarland quotes Mr. Orton, "'Give me the ability to rage correctly. Laughter is a serious business, and comedy a weapon more dangerous than tragedy.'"
Feelgood also sits nicely alongside other notable British TV series like Yes, Prime Minister and It aint half hot Mum a comedic series satirizing British rule in India.
Lorne Pardy, who plays Eddie and is also the GCTC's artistic director, acknowledges that he follows politics the way an average person does. For him, researching Blair's Third Way, his rise to power and the spin doctoring phenomenon were the challenge in playing this role.
Mr. Pardy admitted that at a time when spin has gone completely out of control, playing Eddie has been "thrilling" and that researching political back rooms and press secretaries has been fascinating.
"Eddie's spin doctoring is put to the test on a very human level by his ex-wife who's a journalist," Mr. Pardy says. Liz, Eddie's ex-wife, is played by Philippa Domville. "Basically after the ministerial scandal comes to light in the play, I need to spin that story immediately. So I get on the phone to all these journalists and realize that she's the one who's been following the story and is going to write the big leaked story. So I have to go after her, and I haven't seen her in a number of years. Our lives together when we were younger were all about political activism, socialism and the miners' strike - so it's actually a really interesting human situation to be in. I actually need her help. I need her to come on side with me."
"She puts me on the spot in a way that makes Eddie the press secretary actually have to ask himself what he really feels about what he's doing."
While Mr. Beaton sees the farcical and comedic aspects to relationships between journalists and press secretaries, his experiences as a speechwriter clearly informed the sobering injections of political substance into the play.
Mr. McFarland notes the scene where Liz tells Eddie that she has information that will bring down the government.
"It's all about responsible journalism," Mr. McFarland adds. "What are the consequences? Are the consequences to bring down the government? … Who do you put in power if you've got a left-leaning socialist agenda and you want to affect radical change, but the affect of your investigative journalism is to bring down a neo liberal government? What's the practical affect of that when you bring in the right wing? It's a really fascinating and complex argument that this play is presenting."
Published in The Hill Times, 2003