Best of Enemies was one of the most memorable plays I’ve seen. David Harewood and Zachary Quinto were fantastic—two leads I’d admired on TV, and seeing them live was everything I’d hoped for. They delivered spectacular performances as ideological opposites. It felt like watching the very foundation of the modern liberal vs conservative divide being built before your eyes.
James Graham based his play on the 1968 televised debates between Gore Vidal, the left-leaning novelist, and William F. Buckley Jr., the conservative commentator. These debates were the birth of televised political theatre as we know it. Their verbal sparring, laced with personal attacks and ideological clashes, marked the start of the polarised media landscape we’re all too familiar with today.
Casting TV stars in a play about the power of television was a brilliant move, blurring the line between past and present. It’s a reminder of how much influence the medium wields, for better or worse, and how moments like those debates shaped the way we consume and perform politics.
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Best of Enemies
Noël Coward Theatre, London
Written by James Graham
Directrd by Jeremy Herrin
Cast: David Harewood as William F. Buckley Jr, Zachary Quinto as Gore Vidal
Elia Kabanov is a science writer covering the past, present and future of technology (@metkere).
Illustration by Elia Kabanov feat. Midjourney.
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