The Holy Terror

Synopsis

Arrogant, manipulative and cunning, Mark Melon reigns supreme as king of the publishing jungle, where nothing stops a good story and ever more profitable book rights. But it s tough at the top, and when inner demons get hold, his fall from grace is of majestic proportions. A passionate and absorbing journey, this modern morality play shines with intelligent humour and heartrending poignancy.

Our Review:

15 April 2004

The writer Simon Gray is virtually a one-man publishing industry: between his plays, his books about his plays, and his new plays based on his previous plays, not to mention his newly published personal diaries, it’s enough to drive a publisher to madness.

Which, in his first ‘new’ play to reach the West End since the 2001 appearance of Japes at the Haymarket, is precisely what happens in The Holy Terror to a successful, middle-aged publisher, Mark Melon, as he addresses the Cheltenham Women’s Institute (or is it Chichester? He’s never quite sure), and replays scenes from a recent mental breakdown he’s suffered.

As so often with Gray, we’ve been here before; but this time, literally so, for exactly the same character in exactly the same predicament was previously explored in Gray’s 1988 play Melon. Now he’s been put into what is, remarkably, an entirely new play, first produced on radio in 1989 and subsequently staged...

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Latest User Review

USER: Whatsonstage.com (213.122.28.248) - 2 May 2004:

Forget the critics - this is a genuinely funny, fantastically written comedy. It is a real insight into a uncontrolled ego, and its central character is a study worthy of Moliere. The small audience last night were having a whale of a time and Callow's performance is an object lesson in comic timing and masterly breath control. A real treat....

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