005 Contemporary Drama – New
This category was particularly strong this quarter. The Unseen Government was your
absolutely prototypical Mark Lawson/Eoin O’Callaghan collaboration: up-to-the-minute political/journalistic drama
from an insider, well-written and well-acted.
It occasionally erred too much on the side of didacticism, but I didn’t
really care, as I am shamefully uninformed about the current political
situation in Northern Ireland. In it,
Ali (Amaka Okafor), a Westminster civil servant, is invited to Belfast to
observe a role-playing exercise at Queen’s University. It is facilitated by Jean-Christian, a
Belgian (such a joy to hear Anton Lesser’s dulcet tones) whose expertise in
diplomacy is there to help re-establish a working government, as months have
gone by since there has been one (I am reliably informed that this is actually
true). Maire (Michelle Fairley), Ash (Jonathan
Harden), and Paul (Lloyd Hutchinson) all seem to be participants in the
exercise, but what Ali slowly comes to realize is that this game has real-world
consequences. In front of her, the
Deputy Prime Minister resigns, making it no longer a theoretical exercise but a
lesson in the impossibility of maintaining the fragile threads of government
without true leadership.
The RemCo and The Unseen Government by Jonathan
Maitland heard almost back-to-back made my head spin, rooted as they both are
in real-world, contemporary politics.
The underrated, chameleon-like James Purefoy plays Michael Melman, a
business impresario who is driving profits skyward for a PR firm. However, he wants an extra £8 million as a
retainer on top of his salary, bonus, and stock options. Judith (Deborah Findlay), chair of the remuneration
committee, comes in to determine whether the company should find this extra
money to placate Melman. Melman charms
his way through the RemCo committee, seducing, bribing, and threatening anyone
who stands in his way, including Brian (Forbes Masson) (whose somewhat sexist
and anti-Semitic comments are wrenched from the confidential arena of the
committee and plastered over tabloids), David (Tony Turner), Edgar (Lewis Bray),
and Lucy (Jeanette Percival).
Business-headed Fola (Saffron Kuma) doesn’t have to be seduced by Melman
personally; she is enthralled by his business prowess. Eventually, Judith is the only one suggesting
that perhaps Melman’s avarice and arrogance should be curtailed. Judith’s daughter, Camilla (Lucy Doyle), is
also secretly investigating Melman, making her relationship with her mother strained. Judith is a great character, and I’d almost
like to see her appear again in her low-key crusade against the excesses of
capitalism. I felt some of the family
scenes between Judith and Camilla were a bit broadly painted, but overall, an
excellent drama. The RemCo was directed by Emma Harding.
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