A
play by
Tom Stoppard, dealing with the role of the
media and how far they should get involved in the pursuit of a story.
It is set in an African country called Kambawe. Dick Wagner (not like the composer) the journalist and George Guthrie the photographer are both veterans of trouble spots. Like every other reporter in Kambawe they are trying to find out what is going on and get to the action; but they are scooped by an anonymous young correspondent.
They arrive at the house of the Carsons. Geoffrey Carson runs the mines for the Kambawe government, but the mines are in danger of being overrun by the rebels. Wagner discovers that the wife Ruth Carson was someone he had a fling with in London.
The anonymous reporter turns out to be Jacob Milne, who also appears at the Carson house now. He had to be anonymous because he had been fired for strike-breaking, and Wagner suddenly starts berating him in militant unionist terms. But Milne is the only one with access to the rebels and they have to cooperate to get their story.
Night and Day premièred at the Phoenix Theatre in London on 8 November 1978, starring Diana Rigg as Ruth and John Thaw as Wagner.