A national tour of the critically-acclaimed play comes to the Churchill Theatre.
In 2001, Charles Ingram became the third contestant ever to win the full £1m on the TV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. In 2003, he was convicted of cheating his way to the top prize with the help of his wife Diana and another contestant coughing from the audience.
In 2017, a play by hotshot contemporary playwright James Graham, charting the whole incident, opened in Chichester before transferring to the West End, trailed by rave reviews.
And in 2023, a national tour of that same play is doing the rounds, calling in at Bromley’s Churchill Theatre from November 6 – 11.
Impressionist and comedian Rory Bremner stars as the gameshow’s host Chris Tarrant, with Lewis Reeves (I May Destroy You) and Charley Webb playing accused winners, the Ingrams.
Also in the cast is Bromley local Jay Taylor, best known for his role in the 2008 British Thriller film Donkey Punch, who here is switching between multiple hats to play the parts of Major General Roberts, Adrian Pollock and David Briggs.
Jay speaks to us about starring in one of the best-loved contemporary plays and bringing it to his local theatre.
Actor Jay Taylor
“I saw [Quiz] when it was in the West End. I’ve known James [Graham, the writer] for a little while… I’ve always loved his work,” the actor tells us, citing Rupert Murdoch saga Ink and British politics drama Labour of Love as his favourites.
“He’s brilliant and that was a massive draw for me [of working on Quiz]… He writes such good problems for characters and really contrasting sides of an argument so well.”
Part of what makes Quiz so engaging is that the show gives the audience the autonomy to decide whether they believe Charles is or isn’t guilty via two votes: one following the first act and another after the second.
“The first act of the play is prosecution and the second act is defence,” explains Jay, who is in favour of this model and believes “it makes the audience feel complicit”.
He continues: “There’s a degree of inclusion in the decision making, [and it highlights] how quick we are to judge based on representation in the media.”
It’s a theatrical extension, if you like, of how we behave in real life. “If you subscribe to a particular publication or news outlet, you’ll get one version of a story. I think the voting gives people the opportunity to see how quick we are to judge people based on one side of the argument. It also allows people to feel they have some stake in the show.”
Even the company themselves are undecided on whether or not Charles was really guilty. “We’re all still completely in the dark about it,” he admits. “We feel completely conflicted as to what happened; whether or not they’re guilty or did something. I was convinced of their guilt at the beginning of the job and now I feel like something went down but it almost certainly wasn’t the coughing thing. I’m pretty sure the third man [hopeful contestant Tecwen Whittock] wasn’t guilty and was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Interestingly, there’s been a shift in how audiences have responded to the play over the last half a decade. According to the show’s own analytics, audiences typically used to give a guilty verdict at the end of the first act, then swing to believing in Charles’s innocence in the second. Now, Jay says, the vote typically remains guilty.
Why is this? “We’ve had a lot of change politically,” Jay muses, citing Boris Johnson’s Partygate scandal and Donald Trump’s denials of reality – two examples of those in the utmost positions of power lying to their people – as potential reasons for audiences cracking down on potentially immoral behaviour. “I think the general public have had enough of liars and cheats.”
At the same time, the company has seen a difference in voting based on the cities they’ve played, with the audience in Chichester compared to that in Glasgow proving a recent striking example.
Jay’s unsure which way Bromley will swing, but he does know that his parents, who are among several of his family members still living close to the theatre, are likely to be responsible for 50 per cent of the ticket sales when the show arrives.
“I’m really looking forward to it. It’s lovely to be doing something in my hometown, it will be something of a homecoming performance,” he grins.
Jay is enjoying playing multiple parts in a show that requires some of its actors to “paint with a broad brush”. He says:
“I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a challenge. The dress rehearsal for me was a complete car crash.”
When leaving the stage as one character and reentering as another, “there were a couple of times where I went on with the wrong top or bottoms!”. Fortunately, he’s got in the swing of it now. “It’s stuff that gets ironed out over the course of the run. It’s kind of terrifying [remembering multiple parts] but it’s also the reason I became an actor.”
Quiz is showing at the Churchill Theatre, High Street, Bromley BR1 1HA.
November 6 – 11, 7:30pm.
Admission: £23 – £48.
