Image: 

Published: 16 February, 2012
by OLIVER WISEMAN

It is two hours until the newspaper goes to press, and a photograph of a topless celebrity arrives from an unknown source.

Under the cosh of a deadline, the characters in Damages must make the quintessential Fleet Street call: to print or not to print.

The decision is complicated by in-house lawyer Abigail’s (Jennifer Quinn) friendship with the star, and a fear that the picture is a sham, designed to embarrass the paper.

Damages premiered at the Bush Theatre in 2004, soon after Piers Morgan had been fired from the Daily Mirror over doctored images of British troops urinating on their Iraqi captives.

The play’s return to the stage, with the Tower Theatre Company and director Martin South, is no less timely.

With the phone hacking scandal showing no sign of going away and Lord Leveson’s inquiry into the regulation of the media offering regular glimpses at journalism’s underbelly, now is an appropriate time for witty consideration of life in the newsroom of a national red top and the high-stakes game its inhabitants play.

Stephen Thompson, whose first play this was, writes with a sharpness that suits his subject matter here. He has since go on to find success in television, writing episodes of popular shows like Doctor Who and Sherlock.

Staged at the Bridewell Theatre, just off Fleet Street – which remains the newspaper industry’s spiritual, if not actual, home – and ending at 8pm, when most papers send off their first editions, Damages promises authenticity.

Adding to this is the appearance of Ian Hoare, a former news editor and journalism lecturer, as veteran pedant, Howard.

The play is being produced by Islington amateur thespians, the Tower Theatre Company.

Damages is that rare thing: a play that has grown more relevant with time.  

• Damages is at the Bridewell Theatre, 14 Bride Lane, Fleet Street, EC4Y 8EQ, from February 21-25. 020 7353 3331