Jack Studio Theatre is a very welcoming, comfortable, intimate, air-conditioned, pub theatre, twenty minutes (plus a two-minute walk) from London Blackfriars, which hosts visiting companies. This means that the work is very varied and often well worth seeing, in a very pleasant ambience. The beer (real ale!) is also excellent, as is the food!
At present, the theatre is showing a Black Bat production: the fifty-minute two-handed Press by Nathaniel Brimmer-Beller. He is an American writer, now living in London, who has written over twenty plays, only three of which have been published. Press was written in the space of four weeks and was first staged at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2021, with the same cast as the production under review.
The plot, such as it is, concerns David and Kate, movie producers, who are anticipating that their American Civil War epic “Catch Me Some Freedom” will be nominated for many “Goldies” in the upcoming awards, when David suddenly discovers during a live TV interview that the film’s heroic lead role, played by a white actor, was in reality, black. In the play, Kate and David discuss how they can set about mitigating this potential disaster to their careers – the denouement being rather tame!
The best scene, fifteen minutes long, is the first where David, played by the playwright himself, is being interviewed by an unseen voiceover, named in the script as “Entertainment Now”. David is described as “nicely dressed in a three-piece suit, eager to charm. Perfect morning show guest“. He is clearly very proud of his appearance as he sits and “finds a speck of dust to clear from his lapels…” Unfortunately, in reality, Brimmer-Beller as David is actually dressed in a very scruffy suit with non-matching trousers, looking as if it has been slept in, and shoes that have been in dire need of a polish for a long time. He does not convey the “suave” appearance of a Hollywood film producer! Perhaps this is because, as well as writing and acting in Press, he has also directed it and therefore has not been able to see what it looks like from the point of view of an audience.
Rosie Hart is Kate Smalls, the other movie producer and someone that obviously, as a woman, David thinks of as being nothing like as important as he is! Hart does her very best with this role, but it seems very two-dimensional in spite of her efforts. Again, part of the problem seems to be with the lack of direction – the play seems to meander with a lack of focus and at the same pace throughout. We find that, by the end, we do not care about either David or Kate, nor what happens to their movie!
Brimmer-Beller says that Press “is the most honest and Me story I’ve put out there in my life…something thornier, stranger, more brash, more exciting about watching…. uncommon juxtaposition of message and messenger… I could go on about these ubiquitous invitations to shun our own individuality, the vilifications of original thought (etc, etc) …”
It would be instructive to see this play again with the roles of playwright, actor and director separated, as well as a set and costume designer, so that one could really see the potential of Press.
Review by John Groves
It’s the big day. The announcement is in a few hours’ time, and film producers David and Kate anticipate their prestigious Civil War epic Catch Me Some Freedom will be nominated for plenty of Goldies. Until, however, they learn that the film’s heroic lead role, played by a white actor, was in real life actually Black.
Fearing an intense and career-jeopardising backlash, David and Kate frantically try to avoid public scrutiny and keep the film from getting any attention whatsoever.
David – Nathaniel Brimmer-Beller
Kate – Rosie Hart
Written and directed by Nathaniel Brimmer-Beller
Produced by Niamh Jones
Presented by Black Bat Productions
PRESS
Jack Studio Theatre
17 June to 5 July 2025
