Theater Review: Ink and the Predatory Origins of Fox News
Ink
Written by James Graham
Directed by Rupert Goold
Starring Bertie Carvel and Jonny Lee Miller
Samuel J. Friedman Theater, Manhattan
July 5, 2019
The Brits seem to have a laser-like ability to write good plays about the failings of our carnivorous capitalistic system. Ink was written in 2017 by British playwright James Graham (b. 1982), renowned in the UK for his politically focused plays like This House (2012), which dissected the House of Commons. Ink takes on a different political target, Australian business magnate Rupert Murdoch’s 1969 takeover and transformation of The Sun, a London newspaper. His business philosophy there was a prequel to his takeover of Fox Broadcasting in 1986. We know how that turned out. The fun thing in this rapid-motion, coarse play is seeing how Murdoch’s populist philosophy would later translate into Fox News…give “the people” (well, at least a rabid subset of them) what they want, using the news as raw meat rather than as a “highbrow” Oxbridge effort to educate or enlighten. This included the first UK use of bare breasts in a nonpornographic publication and a controversy that presaged our current arguments about whether news outlets are manufacturing news or reporting it. In this case, the wife of a Sun board member was kidnapped, and some of the editorial decisions on what to report verged on manipulation of the police investigation. The woman was killed, and the public was rapt as the kidnappers seemed to engage in dialogue with the newspaper, rather than with the police. This voyeuristic pandering to popular taste is of course one of the things most like about our current internet culture. We seemingly can gather our own primary “data” at will, but is this any more relevant, accurate, or appropriate than peeping in someone’s window? This play gains extra resonance since the American audience knows what came next from Murdoch: Fox News.
The attraction of Ink lies not in its plot—hirings, firings, etc. – and we pretty much know how things turn out. Instead, it is the depiction of the wired, high testosterone newsroom. The harsh lighting, jumbled set of desk piled skyward on top of desk, and obsessive soundscape made of the percussive beat of typewriters, whistles, and throbbing presses keeps things on edge. Actually, I have rarely seen a more musical and operatic non-musical play. Besides the percussion of the machinery, the cast is constantly informally singing, line dancing, and viewing classic 60’s go-go dancers gyrating to hits of the era. Much of the play even seems structured like an opera, with duets and solos (discussions and dialogues) alternating with group “choreographed” numbers. The author does not write poetically (like Shakespeare), but his dialogue takes on a quasi-poetic, beat cadence. It was a remarkable effect—a musical masquerading as a spoken play, and it gave all the proceedings a larger-than-life feel, totally appropriate for the titanic egos on display. The most prominent character was the Sun editor in chief Larry Lamb (Jonny Lee Miller)—brash, aggressive, disruptive—the perfect effector of Rupert Murdoch’s disruptive innovations.
Miller’s performance was gripping and awesomely consistent in its macho energy. Bertie Carvel as Rupert Murdoch had a more restrained role to play. Murdoch is shown as rapacious, but quiet—sort of an assassin in the dark who lets others do his dirty work. Carvel played this manipulativeness well, conveying Murdoch’s obsession with conquest while at the same time providing a quieter counterpart to the brash Larry Lamb. The large 20-person cast was expertly choreographed (like an opera ballet) by director Rupert Goold, Artistic Director of London’s Almeida Theater. Interestingly, Mr. Goold had a prior partial Broadway success in 2016 with a musical adaptation of the movie American Psycho, another over-the-top portrayal of (literally) predatory business types, described as “heavy on blood, light on heart” by one critic in 2016. It closed after only 54 performances. I’m not sure musical theater audiences were then or now ready for homicidal sociopaths (well, with the exception of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, more of an opera anyway). In Ink this director has found a better balance. Given the topic of Rupert Murdoch, we in the audience had no expectation of kindness or happy endings. This entertaining, wired, cynical play gave us just what we expected, and was a good match for the resigned tribal cynicism of our times.
Written by James Graham
Directed by Rupert Goold
Starring Bertie Carvel and Jonny Lee Miller
Samuel J. Friedman Theater, Manhattan
July 5, 2019
The Brits seem to have a laser-like ability to write good plays about the failings of our carnivorous capitalistic system. Ink was written in 2017 by British playwright James Graham (b. 1982), renowned in the UK for his politically focused plays like This House (2012), which dissected the House of Commons. Ink takes on a different political target, Australian business magnate Rupert Murdoch’s 1969 takeover and transformation of The Sun, a London newspaper. His business philosophy there was a prequel to his takeover of Fox Broadcasting in 1986. We know how that turned out. The fun thing in this rapid-motion, coarse play is seeing how Murdoch’s populist philosophy would later translate into Fox News…give “the people” (well, at least a rabid subset of them) what they want, using the news as raw meat rather than as a “highbrow” Oxbridge effort to educate or enlighten. This included the first UK use of bare breasts in a nonpornographic publication and a controversy that presaged our current arguments about whether news outlets are manufacturing news or reporting it. In this case, the wife of a Sun board member was kidnapped, and some of the editorial decisions on what to report verged on manipulation of the police investigation. The woman was killed, and the public was rapt as the kidnappers seemed to engage in dialogue with the newspaper, rather than with the police. This voyeuristic pandering to popular taste is of course one of the things most like about our current internet culture. We seemingly can gather our own primary “data” at will, but is this any more relevant, accurate, or appropriate than peeping in someone’s window? This play gains extra resonance since the American audience knows what came next from Murdoch: Fox News.
The attraction of Ink lies not in its plot—hirings, firings, etc. – and we pretty much know how things turn out. Instead, it is the depiction of the wired, high testosterone newsroom. The harsh lighting, jumbled set of desk piled skyward on top of desk, and obsessive soundscape made of the percussive beat of typewriters, whistles, and throbbing presses keeps things on edge. Actually, I have rarely seen a more musical and operatic non-musical play. Besides the percussion of the machinery, the cast is constantly informally singing, line dancing, and viewing classic 60’s go-go dancers gyrating to hits of the era. Much of the play even seems structured like an opera, with duets and solos (discussions and dialogues) alternating with group “choreographed” numbers. The author does not write poetically (like Shakespeare), but his dialogue takes on a quasi-poetic, beat cadence. It was a remarkable effect—a musical masquerading as a spoken play, and it gave all the proceedings a larger-than-life feel, totally appropriate for the titanic egos on display. The most prominent character was the Sun editor in chief Larry Lamb (Jonny Lee Miller)—brash, aggressive, disruptive—the perfect effector of Rupert Murdoch’s disruptive innovations.
Miller’s performance was gripping and awesomely consistent in its macho energy. Bertie Carvel as Rupert Murdoch had a more restrained role to play. Murdoch is shown as rapacious, but quiet—sort of an assassin in the dark who lets others do his dirty work. Carvel played this manipulativeness well, conveying Murdoch’s obsession with conquest while at the same time providing a quieter counterpart to the brash Larry Lamb. The large 20-person cast was expertly choreographed (like an opera ballet) by director Rupert Goold, Artistic Director of London’s Almeida Theater. Interestingly, Mr. Goold had a prior partial Broadway success in 2016 with a musical adaptation of the movie American Psycho, another over-the-top portrayal of (literally) predatory business types, described as “heavy on blood, light on heart” by one critic in 2016. It closed after only 54 performances. I’m not sure musical theater audiences were then or now ready for homicidal sociopaths (well, with the exception of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, more of an opera anyway). In Ink this director has found a better balance. Given the topic of Rupert Murdoch, we in the audience had no expectation of kindness or happy endings. This entertaining, wired, cynical play gave us just what we expected, and was a good match for the resigned tribal cynicism of our times.
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