Preview: It’s News To Him

It’s News to Him is a new student-written satirical comedy, written by Finlay Wyer, coming to Corpus Playroom next week from Wednesday 30th October – Saturday 2nd November with the Lady Margaret Players. I sat down with Finlay, the writer and co-director of the show, to talk about his creative process and journey in creating the show.

In the Corpus Newsroom, over the course of an hour, George Crudgeon presents the latest satirical stories to the world. There will be headlines, in-depth investigative reports, interviews and parody adverts. Finlay also tempts us with a Cbeebies bedtime story and a peek behind the camera as George deals with a failure of work-life balance and the fallout from his three-and-a-half divorces.

Image Credits: Lulu Fountain

When asked what inspired him to write this show, Finlay spoke of how he felt that there was a certain brand of satirical fun that he hadn’t yet seen in Cambridge and wanted to create something influenced by various satirical greats (quoting Minister, The Onion, and The Day Today as examples). He originally wrote a few articles for his Sixth Form school paper and decided that the character of George he’d been writing under would be really good fun realised on stage.

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Finlay was full of praise for his team in producing this show, mentioning how his fellow cast members made him laugh in-character so much that it became a problem. In addition to the many people involved in filming adverts and interviews, the show features several original news theme tunes composed by Zane Soonawalla and the fantastic tech crew working on sound, projection and lighting. He would also like to take the opportunity to issue a public apology to his technical director. “Peter Baker, your sacrifice will not go unnoticed, but it will go monetarily uncompensated”.

Image Credits: Lulu Fountain

When asked about his collaboration with the show’s other director, Aruba Bibi, Finlay says that his role is to come up with bad ideas, whilst Aruba’s is to tell him they’re bad ideas but still run with it. He apparently suggested a rewrite a week ago to make the show a four show saga in which audiences would have to attend every night, with the third night being a musical, and George canonically leaving to serve in the SAS for a year between the third and fourth night, returning with a gruesome scar that would never be acknowledged. However, Aruba made him stick to the original script. I’ll be waiting for the sequel…

Many may have spotted the show’s unconventional advertising, featuring the creation of a real Hinge profile for George: “Lonely newsreader/journalist seeking studio audience”. There was a Camfess featuring this that Finlay acknowledges reads like one of the team wrote as a “desperate advertising plea”, but claims it came from an anonymous third party. He adds “to anyone lusting after George, you can have him, but only at Corpus Playroom next week (and he does insist on personal space, I’m afraid)”.

Image Credits: Camfess

When asked about favourite moments from the show, Finlay cites some of the videos he has produced as “truly something special”. He adds that he particularly adores interviewing Buzz Jones Medeema’s character as George and will struggle to not break out laughing at his portrayal of a dating coach. He also highlights the inclusion of an interview clip from Margaret Saunderson, the current Footlights President, but adds that “you’ll have to see the show to see what she has to say…”

When asked to summarise the show in three words, Finlay succinctly describes it as “serious, irreverent, and “why?””

Buy your tickets here for the Corpus Playroom to see the show for yourself! On at 9:30pm next week from Wednesday 30th October – Saturday 2nd November.

Feature Image Credits: Lulu Fountain

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