Public Property

Synopsis

Geoffrey Hammond reads for the prime time news but now he is the headline. His publicist Larry knows his client's dirtiest secret and how to spin the story. As the media wait, hungry for the first statement on the sex scandal of the century, the question looms - is all publicity good publicity?

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 17 November 2009

Married male television newscaster Geoffrey Hammond, vainly cultivating celebrity status, is embroiled in a sex tryst with a 16 year-old boy, and his publicist tries to engineer an escape from trial by media.

There’s something almost too strenuously topical in playwright Sam Peter Jackson’s bending of “celebrity in the spotlight” issues – the newscaster’s autobiography has been panned in the press and he has a male lover as well as the wife at home – but he writes a nifty scene.

Hannah Berrigan’s close-up production in the coffin-like smaller studio sets up some ticklish dramatic situations with one or two unexpected twists between the interlocked trio. There are areas of drift, though, and the final plot lever is weakly oiled and engineered.

But this is a promising venture by 22 year-old producer Tara Wilkinson’s Whippet Productions and she’s certainly done a good job on casting and presen...

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Latest User Review

Paul Wallis - 7 December 2009:

What a funny, clever, inventive and brilliantly acted show. One of the best things I've seen on stage in a while...

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