James Mann is king of the US prime-time news programme, a veteran broadcast journalist who always wins the ratings war. He was certain of the crown until his daughter Katherine was employed by a rival news channel. This is the night that father and daughter go head to head, and only one can be the victor. In the process, truth and integrity are the losers.
California's The Riot Group had a hit with Adriano Shaplin's satire at the Edinburgh festival last year, and it remains a slick, sharp show - although only the absurdly naive will be surprised by what it tells us about the corruption of American values, the broadcast media's lack of accountability, its ruthless manipulation of language and heartstrings, and its obsession with sex scandals over hard news.
The impact of Shaplin's play comes not from what it says, but how it says it. Entwining a satire on the demands of 24-hour news and the need to fill yawning airtime with a modern interpretation of King Lear, Shaplin's dense, often smartly funny script rains down a storm of words and is given a full-frontal production that boasts terrific ensemble playing from the cast of four.
Where Victory really scores is not just in taking a general swipe at US news values, but putting them in the context of a post-September 11 world. While James and Katherine are battling it out there is a major terrorist attack on New York ("some tall buildings aren't as tall as they used to be"), war is swiftly declared and just as swiftly won, American dignity is dented and recovered and the platitudes pour forth. This is not a major play, more of an amusing and accurate aside, but it offers a sharper account of the post-9/11 mindset than most of the more personal responses that theatre has offered so far.
*#183; Until February 1. Box office: 020-8237 1111. Then touring.
