The latest National Theatre Live screening to be held at the Quarry Theatre was the multiple award-winning political drama The Best of Enemies and it certainly did not disappoint.
Recorded live in the West End, the gripping drama stars David Harewood (Homeland) and Zachary Quinto (Star Trek) as feuding political rivals in James Graham’s (Sherwood) play.
Set in 1968 America, during the Republican and Democrat conventions, the “cunningly conservative” William F. Buckley Jr., and the “unruly liberal” Gore Vidal are taking part in nightly televised debates, sure to boost the ratings of a failing TV network.
During a new nightly television format, they debate the moral landscape of a nation battered by the assassinations of JFK and MLK, the rise of the civil rights movement and an increasingly unpopular war in Vietnam.
“As beliefs are challenged and slurs slung, a new frontier in American politics is opening and television news is about to be transformed forever.”
The audience – and indeed the cast – certainly needed their wits about them, as the dialogue pitted these two political heavyweights against each other. It was impossible to take your eyes away from the screen for fear of missing even one word or piece of the action.
The staging seamlessly evoked a TV studio, a hotel suite or a new year’s eve dinner party, with supporting appearances from a very fey Andy Warhol, Aretha Franklin, the writer James Baldwin and the partners of both Buckley and Vidal.
The NTLive screenings rarely disappoint and this was no exception. And to be able to watch such high-quality performances in the comfort of the Quarry Theatre, at a fraction of West End prices, is a real treat.
You can find out about future NT Live screenings at the Quarry Theatre at their website here.
