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Richard Bean doesn't do things by halves. His new satirical comedy has a go at press, police and politicians, and covers just about every scandal of the past five years from phone-hacking to MPs' expenses.
But, while his play is as broad as it is long (close to three hours) and attacks too many targets, it has the bracing quality of topicality and is written with real verve.
Bean's chief bile is reserved for the newspapers, here represented by a fictional tabloid called the Free Press (though glancing references are made to a paper called the Guardener whose masthead boasts "we think so you don't have to").
At the Free Press, the mission statement is "we go out and destroy other people's lives on your behalf". And, although it has a multimedia Irish proprietor and a foul-mouthed editor, the chief focus is on Paige Britain, its dynamic news editor who has little time for democracy and whose chief urge is to be part of the country's ruling elite.
But Bean is also keen to pin down what he sees as the corrupt chain that binds together press, police and politicians. Paige's zeal for a story leads her to enlist police help in nailing the supposed killer of two missing children and to work hand in glove with phone-hacking private investigators.
Bean also shows the press not only getting into bed with politicians but also manipulating them for the sake of power: O'Leary, the Free Press's proprietor, offers unqualified support to a political party in exchange for the right to bid for ownership of ITV and the sacrifice of the BBC.
Bean hits some targets dead centre while evading the biggest issue of all. For all the play's fictional exaggeration, it is not hard to recognise a redtop world that puts its faith in "tits, bingo and the death penalty for paedophiles". The idea that real power in Britain is dictated as much by corporate interests as democratic institutions also has a measure of truth. But Bean never tackles the thorniest question: how to devise a system that ensures the press is both responsibly accountable and free from government interference.
The main point is that his play, a kaleidoscope of short scenes, is blessedly funny. Far and away the most absurd character, played with admirable po-faced sincerity by Aaron Neil, is a dunderhead police commissioner who, faced with an intractable murder inquiry, goes on television and announces "a clue is the one thing I've not got" and who allows himself to be publicly Tazered in the interests of good PR.
Accused of an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate, he is also wittily told of the golden rule: "Thou shalt not comfort thy rod with a staff."
It becomes a little harder to laugh at the conscience-free journalists but Billie Piper does an excellent job in conveying the ruthless ambition and unstoppable drive of Paige Britian, whose dream is to be invited to the party she sees at the heart of the governance of the land.
Dermot Crowley as the monopolistic proprietor, Robert Glenister as the free-swearing editor and Oliver Chris as a biddable cop also turn in sharp performances in a production by Nicholas Hytner that is as well marshalled as a military campaign.
Maybe it's too much to expect Bean to map out a path for the future. But what he has done is to remind us of the sins of the powerful and put an array of scandals on to the National Theatre stage. I mean it as a compliment when I say his play has a tabloid energy and bravura.
Michael Billington
Until 23 August. Box Office: 020 7452 3000
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