Target Audience review – zingy satire puts media types in an apocalyptic pickle

Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh
With characteristic wit, Dan Bishop’s comedy develops from a jolly send-up of the vacuous TV industry into a politically astute play about power

‘I’ve never read anything Greek, but I bet if feels exactly like this,” says Isabelle (RhéAna Kamalu) at the apocalyptic height of this zingy comedy. She is a gen Z intern whose end-of-times neuroses have suddenly become justified after she receives a government alert to stay indoors. Maybe she did not want to die young, after all.

The line has the characteristic wit of playwright Dan Bishop, author of last year’s Brainsluts, but the scene itself is unexpected. Wind back to the start of Target Audience and you will find something much more ephemeral.

At Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh, until 30 August

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