The Front Page

The Front Page
by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur

“A journalist is a cross between a bootlegger and a whore.”

Late at night, in the crowded press room at Chicago’s Criminal Courts, a group of reporters is waiting to cover a controversial execution the next morning.

Then an unexpected event breaks through the banter and bravura, the cynicism and ennui, and suddenly a scoop is on the cards.

This landmark comedy from 1928 introduced the now-familiar stereotype of the hard-living, hard-drinking reporter determined to get to the truth.

Though computers have replaced typewriters, and the internet has changed the way news is reported, this satire on systemic corruption, manipulation and scandal in politics, journalism and justice still hits a nerve.

The plot twists and turns as much as its the ethically elastic characters, and the laugh-a-minute, rapid-paced script will get the adrenaline rushing.

“One of the funniest and most exciting of American plays” New York Times