[2] The play features a fictionalised retelling of the 1968 ABC TV debates between William F. Buckley Jr. and Gore Vidal, which take place during the Republican and Democratic Party conventions.
[4] James Graham was described by Time Out as a playwright 'on top of his game',[5] while The Guardian's Mark Lawson argued that 'he stands with [Aaron] Sorkin as our best dramatic interpreters of the interplay of media and politics'.
Lawson supported the choice in The Guardian, commenting that 'as a means of equalising opportunity for actors, there is no reasonable argument against racially fluid casting'.
[6] Clive Davis went further in The Times, adding 'It’s a clever touch to have Buckley — no friend of the civil rights movement — played by a black actor.
[7][8] The play transferred to the Noël Coward Theatre in the West End in November 2022, with Zachary Quinto taking over the role of Gore Vidal.