“Superb vocal control and precise sound design fill a small stage with the relentless voice of online comment.“
Six chairs, two microphones. That is all it takes for this minimalist, voice-driven play to show how online hate becomes real violence.
James Fritz’s play began as a staged reading in 2015 and became an award-winning BBC Radio 4 drama in 2016, and now returns in ETAL’s six-performer adaptation.
Alistair Cooper, a notorious political commentator, is hated online. He is the play’s centre, but never appears. We hear only his voicemail greeting, over and over. He is murdered, and his killer claims to act “in your name,” for everyone who wanted him stopped.
His wife Hilary is the heart of the play, a finely drawn character brought to life by Grace Houston’s rich, truthful performance. She first waves off the hate as “noise.” After his death she moves through shock, grief, anger at her husband, and finally a painful need for the noise, because it keeps his name alive. She also fears that their two-year-old daughter will one day find her father online.
Michael McCredie plays her brother Ben, a clever creation. He is both family and observer, standing in the middle and seeing both sides. He disagrees fiercely with Alistair but likes him, and sparks sharp conflict, above all with Hilary. At different moments, he and Hilary both find themselves asking whether Alistair brought this tragedy on himself. The play raises the question and leaves it open.
The other four actors, Leah Marks, Eve Phillips, Roman Ryan and Ellis David Wilkinson, sit in the same row as the family, as if the incident has pulled everyone into one room. They switch between online users, reporters, police officers and even the killer. With remarkable timing and vocal control, their short comments pop up like messages on a screen, passing judgement on everything in real time. Together they weave a four-part harmony, rising, falling, rushing, pausing, wonderfully elastic.
Public opinion flips from frenzied abuse to solidarity in an instant. Reposts of “not in my name” sit alongside grief going viral, cruel jokes and a flippant tone, which makes the satire of performative activism and empty digital kindness bite harder.
Arthur Loades’s direction makes a small stage feel big. Chairs and movement alone create each setting and tell one scene from the next. At one point the killer stands on a chair above three other performers, the online crowd’s invisible power made visible. The lighting is simple but memorable. Four blue lights at the start turn red as the anger peaks, and at the end two are blue and two red, as if the storm has passed but something remains.
The sound design is the best part, carrying the play’s radio origins onto the stage. Subtle choices make clear who is speaking and how. Online voices are natural and unamplified, while public speeches and calls are amplified with heavy reverb. A message alert opens the show and a plug being pulled ends it, drawing a line between play and real world.
The sound is so polished it could stand alone. What the stage adds, I think, is seeing the voices become real people, and being drawn into the crowd until we are part of the story.
The title promises freedom, and Fritz shows what that freedom can cost. Comment may be free, but someone always pays for it. A thought-provoking, unforgettable night.
Comment is Free plays at the Lion’s Den until 18th October. Tickets are available here.