Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – J.T. Rogers’ intermittently gripping CORRUPTION flags under the weight of its ambitions

• By drediman
• March 19, 2024
• No Comments

Lincoln Center Theater scored big when it presented J.T. Rogers’ Oslo, which deservedly went on to win the 2017 Tony Award for Best Play. Unfortunately, the playwright’s latest work — Corruption at Off-Broadway’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater — pales in comparison. Based on the book Dial M for Murdoch: News Corporation and The Corruption of Britain by Tom Watson and Martin Hickman, Rogers’ new play chronicles the events of the 2011 phone-hacking scandal that threatened to upend Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.

Corruption isn’t the first play to attempt to expose the insidious reach of Murdoch’s media empire. In 2019, New York audiences got the Broadway transfer of James Graham’s Ink, a work that told the story of Murdach’s rise to prominence. Corruption continues the mogul’s story — in a fascinating choice, Murdoch does not appear in the play but is nonetheless a menacing Big Brother presence throughout — as a brash, bulldozing profiteer. In opposition is Parliament member Tom Watson (played by Toby Stephens), who with a scrappy band of journalists, politicians, and lawyers seek to unravel the web of criminality underlying Murdoch’s operations. Despite its intelligence, Rogers’ “David and Goliath” tale unfortunately flags under the weight of its ambitions. Indeed, Corruption teems with caricature-like characters and covers plenty of narrative ground, much of which sadly comes across as muddled onstage (a part of me thinks the play would register better being read instead of seen). As such, the work is only intermittently gripping and its tone unsure.

The production reunites Rogers with Lincoln Center Theater usual suspect Bartlett Sher, the Tony-winning director of Oslo (as well as Rogers’ earlier play Blood and Gifts). His work here is breathlessly-paced and unnecessarily busy — unlikely traits for a Sher production, which are typically clear-eyed and elegant. In a rare misfire, Sher’s staging creates a numbing effect instead of generating the intended excitement. As for the performances, they’re swaggering and hardworking — but only occasionally reveal the humanity beneath the intrigue.

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CORRUPTION
Off-Broadway, Play
Lincoln Center Theater at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater
2 hours, 40 minutes (with one intermission)
Through April 14