Network: A Play

Howard Beale is a television news presenter whose audience has been drifting away. During what he plans as his last bulletin, he falls apart on camera in front of millions. The broadcaster then sees a surprising opportunity: viewing figures jump, and the network builds a new role around its volatile prophet of public anger. Howard becomes the most talked-about figure on television.

Lee Hall's stage version adapts the screenplay by Paddy Chayefsky, the writer of the 1976 film on which it is based. The play follows how a news channel turns a broken man's outburst into a commercial product, and how that machine treats the people inside it.

The production premiered at the National Theatre in London in November 2017.