Writer and Director: Nathaniel Brimmer-Beller
The anxious wait to hear whether the artistic endeavour you’ve worked on for years is about to be lauded at a prestigious awards ceremony is something few of us get to experience. For those who do, though, it must be an anxious time – but when news comes through of nominations in multiple categories, one would imagine the sensation to be one of joy. But for David and Kate, the producers of an American Civil War drama rumoured to be sweeping the boards at the film industry’s top honours, it would be a disaster.
In this sharp satire about movies and PR spin, writer-director Nathaniel Brimmer-Beller also plays David, who finds out live on television that the film he has produced, and which has been touted as a work founded on historical accuracy, stars a white reality star-turned-actor as a character who was, in reality, a Black former slave.
Seeing Brimmer-Beller’s character tailspin in a live interview is deliciously awkward, but the humour steps up as he returns to the office and works with producing partner Kate (Rosie Hart) to try and counter the PR storm that is unleashing.
The script zips along, the whole piece running to a little over 50 minutes, with satirical barbs peppered throughout. From Kate having an “apology template” within easy reach at all times, to descriptions of some of the competing films the pair consider promoting to throw the heat off their own debacle, there are some astute observations about how the film industry is often not quite as creatively original as it likes to make out.
While many of the jokes are successful, not all are. Partly that’s down to the direction (also by Brimmer-Beller) of the increasingly frenetic producing duo. Lines that are played as if the actors know that a laugh should come afterwards disappoint more when they don’t land quite well enough.
That’s a shame, because when Press is on fire, it works well. There is much talk of individuals in the creative arts being “cancelled”. Although this rarely happens in reality, it is not the act of cancellation or the events that may have precipitated a threat of cancellation that is the most interesting.
Like Mark Rosenblatt’s Giant about Roald Dahl, Brimmer-Beller’s satire succeeds because it is about the reaction to a threat. Cornered people make for the best theatre. Press may be slighter and shorter than the Royal Court’s study of Dahl’s antisemitism, but with its slick satire, it’s also way funnier.
Continues until 5 July 2025
