The Death Of Brilliance (excerpt)

Synopsis:

In 1966, the conservative thinker and social commentator, William F. Buckley, founded and hosted a television public affairs program called Firing Line.

He continued to host this show on a weekly basis for 33 years – the longest such run in television history.

Extremely well-read, well-informed, articulate and opinionated, his commentary on the pronouncements of his guests could be lethal.

One of his better-known guests, on more than one occasion, was the famed public intellectual, Christopher Hitchens.

Hitchens, a man of impeccably left-wing pedigree, had it all:  The looks, the voice, the education, the elocution, the acid tongue, the encyclopaedic mind, the quicksilver wit, the moral and physical courage and the sheer mental stamina to carve out what could possibly be described as the most successful career of any public intellectual of the 20^th century.

But, in the tradition of true Greek tragedy, he also had a reliance on both alcohol and cigarettes, to the degree that he felt both were essential to his intellectual and social functioning.

And so, in the 21^st century, the wheels began to fall off.  With his support of the Iraq War, many felt that Hitchens had succumbed to the inevitable ‘shuffle to the right’ that came with age and success.

In ‘The Death Of Brilliance’, Hitchens at 61, having just written his autobiography and having just become apprised of his imminent death from (smoking-induced) cancer, is made answerable to himself at the age of 32 on an episode of Firing Line hosted by Buckley in 2010, 2 years after his death.

The result is an intellectual torrent of words that, almost by subterfuge, dramatizes the morality of public intellect.

Character Breakdown:

The play is a three-hander: 3 males

WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS – 32

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS  – 61

Running-time: 75 minutes.

Production History: Not yet produced.

Excerpt available for download for free.