Taking Talk To New Lows

Eric Bogosian’s “Talk Radio,” that plunge into toxic chatter on the public’s airwaves, feels like a one-act play. Its high-pitched, one-note course can grab audiences fast. But TheatreWorks’ production in New Milford cuts the play in two, giving audiences a break. Big mistake. It’s hard to get them back. And that’s too bad, because “Talk Radio” has a screwy, interesting character in Barry Champlain (Bob Lussier). He sees God. In the mirror, a friend tells us. And he lives to talk. He’s also abrasive, callous, and a far cry from Barry Gray, the New York City DJ who started chatting with listeners back in the late 1940s. Gray, who caught a lot of heat for bopping a critic on the head with his microphone and for calling a politician’s aide “oily,” may have started talk radio. But this Barry, vexed by dolts and sometimes madmen, takes the format to new lows. He tells a transsexual he is “a cliche” and scorns another caller for talking “spurious crap.” This is no act. Barry’s bad to everyone. Linda (Marilyn Hart), his producer and sometime lover complains about being stood up. “I waited half an hour. In the rain,” she tells Barry. “That’s you,” he says. “Me, I would have left.” Still, things are looking good for Barry. He’s up for national syndication. Will success sweeten our night talker? Make him kinder? Gentler? Not likely. The news seems to put him right over the edge. “I am out of control,” Barry yells. “That’s the whole point. That’s why I’ve got the ratings.” And you, he tells his audience, “You listen to feel superior to the other dimwits who call in. “I despise each and every one of you,” he adds for good measure. The trouble here is that while the script makes Barry increasingly unhinged, the direction does not. Barry starts wired and stays that way. We know he was not always like this. He has friends. They tell us that. But he’s always this way with us. And if “Talk Radio” means to say something about our times, well, it’s like watching a kid in the supermarket having a screaming tantrum in the shopping cart. It’s not long before all you want in this whole world is to get the hell out of there. “Talk Radio” runs at TheatreWorks in New Milford, CT, through March 19. For reservations and information, call 860-350-6863, or go to www.theatreworks.us.