Word: champlain
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Eric Bogosian's Talk Radio consists primarily of an evening of Champlain's show, where listeners phone in to talk about topics ranging from nuclear war to pets to their fear of the garbage disposal. The show to which the audience is privy is the tense night before Champlain's show begins national broadcast. Early in the show, Champlain stresses the importance of this and every upcoming show as he pleads for intelligent caller commentary. He phrases it as a challenge: do the callers have anything worthwhile...
...callers phone in with the amusing thoughts and opinions we would expect, a random sampling of the minds of the population which make a show like Champlain's popular. Yet amidst this humor are the troubles of modernity--racism, sexism, child abuse, rape, teen pregnancy, drugs, etc. While Bogosian's play is comic, its intention is in no way farcical. The problems of the culture exemplified in talk radio are of course very real, and the people treat seriously their calls and the opinions expressed in the show...
...left-leaning host, was machine-gunned down in his own drive-way by members of a white-power hate group. His death made it clear that people were listening and taking all his talk very seriously." Because the talk radio phenomenon finds its basis in social reality, Bogosian's Champlain must be taken somewhat seriously...
...nature of Champlain's mission is very difficult. His show must be entertaining, please the sponsors, and (he would like to think) still make a difference in this world of confusion. While Champlain wants to "tell it like it is," the fabricated, commercial talk show host we see personifies many of the problems he seems to be attacking. The audience is left to wonder what Champlain really believes...
Brazell plays Champlain well; his delivery is straightforward and believable. And while the lines seemingly roll off his tongue too easily, this is in keeping with the character. Appropriately, Brazell gives little insight into the substance behind the manufactured Champlain mask...