In the Age of Spin:
I went to see this play a while ago, thanx to a dear friend :-)
Num hotel de província, decorre o Congresso do Partido do Governo. Paulo escreve o discurso do 1º Ministro. O 1º Ministro confia a Vera a sua Agenda. Rui, que controla tudo, é surpreendido por Nuno, que escreve piadas, antes de se saber que Luísa anda a investigar para um Jornal a bronca que aconteceu ao Ministro Óscar e que vai afectar todo o País.
Melhor momento, que inclui a capitalização sobre o potencial cómico de Vergílio Castelo - que faça muitas e boas comédias :-D - o ministro Óscar banheiras-de-bem Brito que troca os eRRes pelos GGuês e que se desmancha a rir perante os gestos e as contorções de José Pedro Gomes - no papel de Rui, esse grande manipulador - quando fala no VINHO (yep, em português o que interessa na polémica dos Organismos Geneticamente Modificados é o vinho, não é a cerveja bifa) e balbucia: "Touguiga, Tguincadeiga, ahahahahhahahahahahahhahahah"...
Detailed synopsis from the British original, Feelgood, by Alistair Beaton - all in all, Western politics are all the same:
Set in a Brighton/Blackpool hotel suite, the makeshift party headquarters for the annual Labour Party conference on the eve of the Prime Minister's speech to the "party faithful", the image makers are fine tuning his speech.
As Paul and Eddie settle down to an all night session writing the big speech, various political crises loom. Demonstrators about environmental issues hijack the conference and protesters are gathering in the streets outside the hotel. Meanwhile, George, a close friend of the Prime Minister and member of the government, is implicated in a GM foods experiment which has gone horribly wrong, resulting in beer being made from genetically modified hops. Men drinking this beer have developed women's breasts. This, after the country has been assured that no such experiment exists. Simon, a facile television sitcom writer, is imported to inject humour into the PM's speech. Liz, Eddie's divorced wife and a journalist, is the voice of the left. She has started to put the story together. A deal is struck to keep the scandal out of the headlines.
Eddie's stress levels soar as the crisis deepens and he writhes and lurches around manically. Eddie has touches of the obsessive about his imported leather relaxer, strangely incongruous alongside the hotel's chintz covered furniture and swagged curtains. He is not a nice man but his competitiveness and market trader, streetwise canniness will keep him on top.
Long suffering, mild mannered Paul is caught between his ex wife and child, and his current boyfriend inappropriately phoning him at work.
Liz waits in her hotel room through one of those infuriating multi option phonecalls where you "press the star key on your phone now" in an attempt to reach room service via the hotel's banquetting, conference and wedding, room booking and car parking options. As the investigative journalist she is bright, but in deviousness, she is no match for her ex husband.
The Prime Minister's words start with the new catchphrase "We want a job culture not a yob culture" and then he tells us that he has torn up his prepared speech to give this heartfelt, spontaneous one.
Yeah right!
