Comics to star in Edinburgh drama

Stewart Lee is to direct fellow comic Phil Nichol in a new stage production of the edgy drama Talk Show at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.

The play was written by American actor Eric Bogosian in 1985, and made into a movie by Oliver Stone three years later.

And its theme of a phone-in host targeted by extremist listeners will resonate with Lee, whose role in directing and co-creating Jerry Springer: The Opera has led to run-ins with fundamentalist Christians.

Nichol, pictured, takes the role of the tormented presenter Barry Champlain, whose Ohio radio show attracts calls from racists, perverts and drug addicts.

Other stand-ups will also star in the play, following the success of other ensemble pieces at the Fringe, 12 Angry Men, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest and The Odd Couple.

Seven comics and actors will take the remaining 37 characters, including Whose Line Is It Anyway star Mike McShane, former Perrier winner Will Adamsdale and stand-ups Stephen K Amos, Tony Law and Tiffany Stevenson.

The play is being staged in Edinburgh’s most dramatic new venue, The Udderbelly – a giant marquee in the shape of an upside-down cow in the middle of Bristo Square, where the Gilded Balloon and Pleasance Dome are also sited.

It is the first production from the newly formed Comedians’ Theatre Company, set up to put performers who are mainly known for their comedy into straight dramas .

• Comedy agency Bound & Gagged has announced its roster of 15 Edinburgh shows, including established acts Andrew Maxwell, Terry Alderton, Lucy Porter, Rhys Darby and Stephen K Amos, sketch groups Toulson & Harvey, Cowards and Lick & Chew, and debut shows from stand-ups Pete Cain and Inder Manocha.

Published: 18 May 2006