Shock-jocks have never really caught on on this side of the Atlantic. After watching Eric Bogosian's Talk Radio you might think we are missing out on a good thing.

Barry Champlain is the outrageous host of the late night call-in show Night Talk. Callous, offensive and belligerent, he interrogates and abuses his way through a succession of callers. Pregnant teenagers, adoring fans, even the show's own sponsors, nobody escapes Barry's venom.

Times have changed since the play's Pulitzer-winning premiere in 1987 and a few contemporary references have been added to update the script. They aren't really needed. From the self-destructive host to the 'nut-jobs and psychos' on the phones, it is the characters that make this play unforgettable.

Looking like Dylan Moran on a really bad day, Alex Comer plays Barry with outstanding energy and panache. It takes quite some talent to make so dislikeable a character this charismatic. It takes even more to bring out the twisted idealism beneath the malevolent exterior.

Night Talk's production team, the put-upon Stu (Jeremy Goldthorp), sultry Linda (Rachel Cooper), and creepily cynical Dan (James Wolstenholme), are played flawlessly. They give us a few scraps of sanity to cling to as we are dragged into the whirlpool of Barry's psyche.

In the age of reality TV and mass-market voyeurism this play is possibly even more relevant. There are no easy answers here but there is something tragically heroic about the man in the middle trying to make sense of a messed-up world.

Alex Thomas

Verdict: A dark, mordant little masterpiece.