Do I have your attention? Are we going to make (together) this theatrical criticism the most read text of La Presse? Above the chronicles of Hugo Dumas and Yves Boisvert? The forest fires, the increase in abortions in the United States, all of Trump’s trials and even the story of the homeless woman who gave birth alone in a wooded area? Fantastic !
Rest assured, dear readers, this is only to illustrate the disturbing process by which we enter the play Newsroom, an excellent theatrical adaptation of the film Network, by Sidney Lumet, released in 1976.
UBS newsreader Howard Beale learns he’s being let go after 25 years of loyal service because his ratings are falling… In a desperate move, he announces his suicide on air this week next. “It should boost the ratings,” he quips.
Well, that’s exactly what’s happening. After returning to the air the next day – supposedly to set the record straight – Howard Beale denounces the bullshit of life that we stupidly accept. And the ratings are exploding!
The station managers then decide to take advantage of this golden nugget, even if it contravenes a basic rule: never become the subject of the news… Which Howard Beale cheerfully does. But the station’s executives justify the journalist’s freak show thus: “He manages to put into words the rage of a people… He’s a new prophet! »
The actor and ex-artistic director of La Licorne offers us a high-flying performance, a game that becomes more and more physical as the play progresses, playing both for the cameras that film him on stage, and for the audience in the room. Consider that at the time, Sidney Lumet wanted Henry Fonda to play the role of Howard Beale, but found the character too hysterical! It was ultimately Peter Finch who got the role – and won an Oscar (posthumously).
A word on the energetic, nervous and precise direction of Marie-Josée Bastien, who very well directed this cast of 12 actors who are busy on stage like bees in a hive.
To say that the play (adapted by Lee Hall) is in itself prophetic of what electronic media has become is the least we can do. When we hear Howard Beale furiously commenting on the news of the day, how can we not draw parallels with hosts Tucker Carlson of Fox or Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon of CNN?
And if you think the on-air announcement of the suicide is exaggerated, know that the film’s screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky was inspired by the death of journalist Christine Chubbuck, in depression, who shot herself on the air, at Sarasota, Florida in 1974.
In short, in News Room, the media in general are taking it for their cold, as they say…
The absolute quest for ratings, clicks, market share or readership, call it what you will, is a pesky reality that has been tenacious, and has been for a long time. We cannot ignore it, but it would be wrong to become obsessed with it. The character of Diana Christensen, played with aplomb by Gabrielle Côté, who transforms the newscast into an entertainment show, is the perfect embodiment of this.
On television, more specifically, the stakes have of course changed, in the sense that with the proliferation of streaming platforms, there is no more succession… Nevertheless. There are a few pearls in this script adapted to the scene. When Howard Beale says, “TV doesn’t hold the truth, it’s an amusement park, a circus.” We tell you what you want to hear,” the prophet of the waves, as he is nicknamed, is not wrong.
And ironically, by saying this, he is signing his own death warrant.
As for me, all things considered, I will continue to write. Let’s call it a new breath.
