Theatre Review: Death of a Comedian - Peacock Theatre, Dublin

2/5

Owen McCafferty’s new play is structurally inspired, but in crucial aspects, alas, deficient. Brian Doherty plays Steve Johnston, who is a Ramones-T-shirt-wearing, no-holds-barred, angry political comic. But he’s also keen to ‘make it’ and soon falls under the spell of an agent bent on turning him into the next Michael MacIntyre.

We follow Johntson’s descent into artistic bankruptcy through the various, increasingly sanitised versions of his act that are performed for us, punctuated by dramatic scenes involving his supportive, idealistic girlfriend, Maggie (Katie McGuinness), and his gleefully cynical agent, Doug (Shaun Dingwall).