Ink NYC Reviews and Tickets

“Directed with vaudevillian flair and firecracker snap by Goold...The first act abounds in adrenaline...'Ink' proposes that the sensibility that would generate today’s tidal wave of social media originated with early London-era Murdoch. At the same time, this production is steeped in a gritty nostalgia for the end of a chapter in journalism...The largely American, multicast ensemble deploys varyingly confident British accents. But it does well in sustaining the play’s propulsive momentum. "
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“Graham labors hard to humanize Lamb with shadows of self-doubt, this psychological element is oversold and unconvincing, and we’re left with a long show about a foregone conclusion...Goold knows that ‘Ink’ needs ginning up, and boy, he ladles on the gin. This production is loud, and it’s lit like a rock show...Goold may think he’s rescuing a dry procedural by turning it into hyperactive, overamplified children’s theater for adults, but he’s actually administering the killing blow.”
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“Directed with plenty of pop and fizz by Goold, and driven by the compelling performances of Carvel and Miller, it’s both playful and thoughtful — not, perhaps, a kick-in-the-guts play, but an energetic, respectable handshake...’Ink’ is perhaps on the back-heavy side, with all of the play’s weightiest, densest episodes shoved into Act Two, whereas most of the first act is dedicated to the amusing, 'Ocean’s Eleven'–like assembling of The Sun’s ragtag team.”
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"Your fairly standard slice-of-life drama, but one that’s been tricked out to feel more contemporary than it really is...Graham never really tells us who Murdoch is...Graham has written a buddy newspaper story—one without a buddy but with all the wisecracking and smoking and typing that we’ve heard and seen time and again...One could make an easy argument for ‘Ink’ as a treatise on the rotten rise of celebrity culture, but its intellectual properties aren’t that expansive.”
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“Basically a semi-dramatized Wikipedia page with two satisfyingly fleshed-out characters in a crowded field, and two correspondingly compelling performances competing for attention with a load of directorial froufrou...Goold stages it all with a putting-on-a-show adrenaline rush, even if it's somewhat undercut by lack of character shading in the newsroom figures...Graham's storytelling instincts too often get dulled here, and Goold's frantically busy direction can't disguise that.”
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“’Ink’ is the theatrical equivalent of its subject...Like the tabloid, it feels unsubstantial, rushed and icky...Those expecting a psychological study of a titan, deep analysis of the marketplace, or personal stories...will find the play lacking, as it favors boisterous pronouncements and mythologizing over the human touch...Instead of digging deeper into the story, Goold and company simply crank up the speed and volume...It’s not until the end of the play that things slow to a human tempo.”
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"Carvel's fictional Murdoch is irresistibly outrageous...Miller is just as good, bulldozing his way through his scenes with knockdown energy, and the rest of the ensemble cast charges after the two of them like gung-ho soldiers bound for glory, egged on by Mr. Goold and his superb design team. They generate enough energy among them to mostly overcome the structural weaknesses of 'Ink'...A refreshing piece of intelligent, mostly unpreachy entertainment."
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“Directed with nonstop gusto...On the whole, the leading men are well-matched...Graham churns out meaty dialogue and keeps things moving, but there’s a sense that he’s often rushing to check off the next journalistic milestone. The action seldom slows down long enough to dig into any of the characters’ back stories..Still, due to Goold’s brassy, athletic staging and a fine ensemble, ‘Ink’ is never boring...But turn the page, and you find yourself wanting more news, less flash.”
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“Graham’s play is so well-crafted that not knowing your Sun from your Mirror is a fairly minor hindrance...Graham and Goold cleverly illustrate the exhilaration of this chaotic frontier by peppering the play with eruptions of music and dance...Miller and Carvel give two of the most commanding performances...The play works best as an intellectual exercise, clever and smart but short on emotion. Even the murder feels more like a playwright’s warning than a human tragedy."
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“An engrossing, richly detailed play...A smart sequence that runs through how a story goes from typewriter to hot type to newsprint is highly entertaining...The impressive Carvel portrays Murdoch as sly and ruthless, but Graham’s idea is not a caricature by any means; the publisher is a scrupulous businessman...If the gutter is where readers wanted their news to wallow, Murdoch and company were content to lead them to it. Here’s hoping that lovers of plays...will want to follow, too."
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“’Ink’ isn’t a character drama in the psychological sense, but it does provide a showcase for some thrillingly flamboyant acting...Goold supplies ‘Ink’ with...choreographic swirl...The play is treated as though it might at any moment transmogrify into a musical...The production’s vitality is unceasing, though the longer the play goes on, the clearer it becomes that something is missing. The basic story is stretched beyond our investment.”
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“Unlike the Guardian, the Sun is fun...And so is the exciting new play about it...Nothing about Graham’s unexpectedly seductive play is ever less than rousing. The show is hoisted even higher by...Goold, doing his best work...by mixing in music and dance for a raging party vibe...Embodying that uproarious spirit is Carvel, who makes Murdoch into a magnetic, eccentric Confucius of the news business. Just as good is Miller...’Ink’ is way more than just a bit of fun.”
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“For today’s battered journos assaulted by newsroom cutbacks...’Ink’ is gloriously nostalgic catnip for a vanished era of newsprint and reckless behavior...Much of the appeal of ‘Ink’, directed with palpable if unsubtle joy by Gould on a cheerily chaotic Bunny Christie setting, centers on that evocation of circa 1970, and on the colorful, boozy characters then found in tabloid newsrooms...Yet in the end, ‘Ink’ is a bit of a morality play.”
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“Gripping production...Using digital imagery, hazy lighting and a unit set resembling a pyramid of metal desks and filing cabinets, Goold’s production moves fluidly and is consistently, engrossing, entertaining and disturbing...’Ink’ marks the third high-profile, magnificent new English drama over the course of roughly six months. One can only hope that next season will offer such riches.”
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"A sprawling, heady, hilarious David and Goliath story that may just make you root for the giant...Carvel is mesmerizing...You can’t take your eyes off him, except when he’s sharing the stage with the equally excellent Miller...Goold’s own vision for the play is an inspired antic Marx Brothers style romp complete with silly songs, choreography and set pieces incongruously piled to the rafters. The perfect metaphor for a guy who thumbed his nose at the establishment."
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“Undeniably entertaining and unapologetically theatrical...Much of Graham's restless script plays out like every American sports movie...The supporting actors jell as a merry band while accentuating their characters' individuality...Like much of Goold's production, it is unsubtle and gets the point across. The production is the real star...This is theater for the age of Twitter, in which there is always something shiny and outrageous coming...A timely, if not particularly original, new play."
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“After the galvanic beginning, ‘Ink’ runs into a spot of structural trouble in its second act...Still, ‘Ink’ is a sharp-tongued, clear-eyed account of how today's cutthroat, bread-and-circus brand of populist journalism was born...In addition to its gallery of colorful characters and reams of acid dialogue, the play also offers a lively primer in the details of newspaper production, which will amaze those raised on iPads.”
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“Performed with oily charm by the outstanding Carvel, Murdoch is all business and all revenge...Unfortunately, the play stumbles somewhat in the second act...The narrative gets bogged down with a bit too much moralizing about the risks associated with exploiting sensational crime stories...Aside from these heavy-handed moments, ‘Ink’ is crackling good theatre. It is a smart, expertly constructed play and infused with rapid-fire dialogue...The production is stunningly theatrical.”
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“’Ink’ spins a yarn for our times about a true underdog...Graham gets us to vehemently root for this antihero...Carvel, as always, is a marvelous chameleon of an actor...Carvel is marvelously slimy...And powerful...Miller is a phenomenal actor, so much so that he singlehandedly upends ‘Ink’...The rest of the cast is equivalent to the original group: all quite good, with a few standing out.”
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“Goold’s characteristically flashy direction...Lamb, played with both increasingly aggressive intensity and a palpable sense of inner conflict by an excellent Miller pursues that goal with a vengeance...But Graham, and Carvel, know better than to make Murdoch a...two-dimensional villain, for that matter...Superb cast...If it’s too late to kill the beast Murdoch has nourished over decades, ‘Ink’ at least encourages us to reflect on its growth—and, if we’re fair, our own accountability in that.”
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"The intriguing presence of Murdoch, faint echoes of 'The Front Page,' a battle with David-and-Goliath dimensions, and the tension of a ticking clock entice us to buckle up and enjoy the ride. All the more so thanks to director Goold, whose staging boasts style, theatricality and smarts as the action unfolds amid a mountain of stacked steel office desks...The last play of the Broadway season to officially open, 'Ink' boasts some of the best performances, beginning with its two stars."
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“How many Broadway theatergoers will be engaged by the Britain-centered story that this deeply researched, superbly acted and mostly engrossing play chooses to tell...If the material may be arcane...Goold and his top-notch cast certainly deliver the play with enough flash, splash and flair to burnish its allure, turning a rather dry tale of inside-baseball journalism into a theatrical pageant with its own tabloid-style appeal, including singing, dancing and quite a lot of piano-playing.”
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“In the final analysis, ‘Ink’ is too swift and too slick for its own good--or should I say, for our good? Even if you know some of the details it traffics in, they zoom by at such a rapid clip, that it's sometimes hard to follow. Director Goold is to be faulted for the pace, no less than the playwright, Graham: it's as if they both wanted to cram in too much information; and, despite the rave reviews this play and production continue to receive, some of it was lost on this particular reviewer.”
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“’Ink’ is blessed with a look and feel that give it a burst of newsroom energy without it being drab...But Goold’s staging is often awkward, with prolonged darkened breaks...or odd dance numbers that didn’t make sense...There were scenes that could have been trimmed...The play is ultimately rescued by Graham’s sharp, crisp dialog performed by a terrific cast...Overall, it makes for a compelling and entertaining night...that may or may not teach you a thing or two.”
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“One of the most entertaining and fun to watch plays that London has sent our way. Thanks to another Rupert...Graham's play has been staged with stupendous originality and style and is performed with gusto...Carvel's interpretation of the Australian determined to crash through the barriers of London's tight knit newspaper world is indeed fascinating and fun to watch...The playwright has managed to use the history of the Sun's first year struggles to tell a ripping good newspaper story."
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"A captivating and riveting look at the birth of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire...Within the tight and clear minded direction of Rupert Goold, the examination of that 'war‘ of revenge and reporting are unearthed and dug up for our delight...The cast assembled for this production are as flawless and entwined...It’s a powerful trip through the trenches, a manic tick tock towards confrontation...It’s pure thoughtful and exciting entertainment based in the smarts of the war of words and wisdom."
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“Graham’s 'Ink' is the cracking story of the rebirth of The Sun...Unmissable...Under the flawless direction of Rupert Goold, Bertie Carvel and Jonny Lee Miller are both superb...The first act portrays the breakneck rush to produce the first issue of the paper with immense energy and humor...The strong ensemble cast portray all the newsroom characters...‘Ink’ remains a stand-alone play it is a timely reminder that popular media and responsible journalism don’t always make good companions.”
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"It’s evident that Graham has done extensive research. All of his players were actual employees of The Sun. He recreates them with specificity and engaging personality. It would be easy for them to become characterizations, but Graham...makes them fully dimensional...Under Goold’s direction, this entire cast crackles. Rarely have I seen an ensemble more unified...Given the fact that ‘Ink’ is based on actual events, it is deeply unsettling to watch."
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"Rupert Goold's flashily directed, well-cast production is sure to keep audiences steadily involved. Visually, the show benefits enormously from Bunny Christie's brilliantly conceived set (a mountain of desks that serve as a metaphor for The Sun's rise to the top) and colorful period costumes and Jon Driscoll's excellent projection design, used often to show us pages from both The Sun and The Mirror, highlighting the ever-shifting landscape of the news world."
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"Frequently exciting…Acted by Miller with driven, chain-smoking, gruff-voiced intensity, Lamb dashes about town, hiring a motley crew…Then comes...the paper's response to the kidnapping of Muriel McKay…An entire play could have been based on this incident but here it becomes only one more episode questioning journalism's ethical responsibilities…'Ink' overextends itself, and could use some trimming. That is not to deny that it remains 'a good fuckin' story.'"
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"Those of us who see Rupert Murdoch as a pernicious influence not just on American journalism but on this nation’s politics and society might have trouble completely embracing 'Ink,' despite flashy direction and solid acting by Miller, Carvel, and a large ensemble...A broadsheet is one huge sheet folded in half, to make four pages. Just take that same sheet, fold it in half again, and rotate it 45 degrees and it’s a tabloid. That’s it. This lesson, in the digital age, feels irrelevant, and so does 'Ink.'"
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“This play is done with slick direction by Goold, who choreographs with a deft hand. He moves his excellent ensemble in a constant state of motion...It is truly the direction that makes this play...Carvel nails Murdoch and he is fascinating to watch. Miller, lets us see his demise from respected journalist...to the publisher of a top rated tabloid, to being remembered for putting nude girls on page 3. The rest of the cast is at the top of their game bringing in banner performances.”
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“The first act is a worthy successor to 'The Front Page' as a love letter to the lost heyday of newspaper publishing...As Lamb assembles his staff, the cast suddenly bursts into song and dance. The segment works so well that I found myself wishing that the creators had gone all the way and written a musical...Goold masterfully keeps everything moving along smoothly. The play is a highly theatrical and quite entertaining work. What it is not is a deep exploration of Murdoch and his agenda.”
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“The unnecessary first act of ‘Ink’ will make you marvel at Orson Welles’ economy and wit...Welles tells the story quickly. Graham shows Lamb handpicking each staff member...Much more tiresome is Graham’s need to show how newspapers were printed...Goold’s flashy musical-comedy direction can’t disguise the fact that there’s no drama in the first act...Act 2 is an improvement because a story finally emerges...To use a newspaper term, ‘Ink’ is a puff piece.”
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"Rhythmic, kinetic, and enthralling, 'Ink' beats out like a procedural thriller...While predictable and not terribly informative, the play investigates the seeds of our modern media environment—with an electrifying finesse and stagecraft that left me spinning...The play is honest and humanizing...Cinematic and absorbing, 'Ink' is easily one of the most stellar plays of the season...A must-see for any news junkie, historian, or citizen trying to better understand our world. "
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“Graham’s uneven, intriguing play—with two excellent performances by Miller and Carvel...This play is more celebration than moral inquisition. It doesn’t put Murdoch on trial for the things he is most condemned for now, it is a mainly sympathetic origin story...Miller is excellent as Lamb...’Ink’ is squarely a play of the past, and it is at its best celebrating the giddiness of The Sun’s birth...’Ink’s’ most stunning scene is a sudden segue to ballet.”
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"If Miller’s performance rings a bit hollow, it suits the part. 'Ink’s' final leg gets bogged down parsing Lamb’s decision to publish topless women when it might have looked further forward at Murdoch’s global impact. But even though it’s more effective as social history than human drama, Graham’s play still packs a prescient punch."
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"The well-researched fictionalized historical drama presents a compelling examination of reckless ambition...A prescient view of the background of our current political climate...There are also incongruous segments of awkward movement and unexpected bursts of song interspersed throughout the narrative, which add an absurdist note of tabloid-inspired flash and gimmickry, but distract from the intensity of the drama and its sardonic humor, and unnecessarily lengthen the running time."
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“A fast-paced chronicle of ambition and anger...With a ripped-from-the-headlines feel, ‘Ink’ captures the intensity of a long-gone newspaper world...Goold is excellent at creating an upbeat, celebratory mood in act one...As the driven Lamb, Miller is exciting to watch...Both he and Murdoch, played with a slimy relish by Carvell, live in the eternal now...’Ink’ is a nasty foreshadowing of what’s to come. It’s amazing audiences aren’t screaming stop the presses!”
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“Graham’s play about how Lamb and Murdoch transformed the British press...’Ink’ evokes the demise of a deferential, collectivist social order and the emergence of a brash, individualistic culture epitomised by the rise of Margaret Thatcher...Graham’s mesmerisingly accomplished play, whose 18-strong cast is directed by Rupert Goold with characteristic razzmatazz that cleverly evokes The Sun’s own brand of infotainment."
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"There is a lot to like here: the lighting design by Neil Austin favors highly stylized darkness and spotlights...and Bunny Christie's set design is spectacular, largely made up of a pile of desks that ascends to the Friedman's ceiling like a journalistic Iron Throne...But Graham's script does not quite know what to do with this pair...[he] can't figure out who is Mephistopheles and who is Faust."
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“An engrossing play...Especially when you add in spot-on, mile-a-minute performances from Carvel and Miller. Besides, as the two men on a mission frequently point out, it’s a darn good story...The large cast, directed with an energizing touch of theatrical fantasy by Rupert Goold, does a fine job portraying the assorted editors and writers employed by The Sun, though their occasional breaking into song is a touch unrealistic.”
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“Exuberant and entertaining...’Ink’ is overlong and occasionally baggy, and its ultimate unwillingness to take a moral stand on its characters’ actions feels like a cop out. Directed by Goold, it’s tricked out with gimmickry that distracts more than it enhances...That ‘Ink’ keeps and at times rivets our attention is because it turns the details of the business world into the stuff of rip-roaring melodrama."
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“Directed with vigor and imagination...Goold keeps the play moving at a pace that reflects the frenzied energy of the paper and its staff...We have some of the most cringeworthy conversations ever put onstage...Carvel and Miller are too amoral to even be satisfactory villains...Unfortunately, Graham is more interested in social commentary than character analysis...’Ink’ may be a play for our time. It is not one for the ages.”
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"Riveting playwriting from Graham and thrilling stagecraft from Goold...James Graham expertly marshals the human drama behind these headlines -- and it is properly galvanised by a pair of towering performances: Bertie Carvel, reprising his London Olivier-winning performance as a young, ruthless and determined Murdoch, and Jonny Lee Miller as his equally single-minded editor. They are both spellbinding."
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"Graham’s play expertly tells how this ruthless pair push all morals aside in pursuit of press popularity, as they say throughout, distribution sales are all the matter. Rupert Goold as director has a perfect handle on the material, making it speak to American audiences and our press culture of today without feeling forced...It is the unspokenness of the relevance that makes this play so haunting and Goold’s direction so superb...It’s a cautionary tale that never becomes a moralistic fable."
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"A fast-moving look at the Machiavellian underbelly of Fleet Street journalism, with an engrossing script by James Graham, a clever set by Bunny Christie, and explosive performances from most of the cast...'Ink' is a masterpiece because as well as being meticulously written by Mr. Graham and tightly directed by Rupert Goold, it is an eerily prophetic tale of how Rupert Murdoch saw the potential for selling populism to the masses decades ago."
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“Lamb is the biggest, showiest role in ‘Ink’ and Miller goes for it with gusto...Murdoch is a smaller but pivotal role, and Carvel gives him an oddly powerful, evil slouch...Goold weaves a dazzlingly theatrical tapestry from Graham’s play. Mod dancing punctuates the scenes, and projections whizz and pulsate. It’s this kind of surreal sizzle that makes Goold one of my favorite directors, and he’s at the top of his game here...Riveting show.”
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"Exceptional production of an indelible portrayal of a ruthless & brilliant business operator...The entire cast is first rate...'Ink' makes you think whether the media feeds the people what they want or are we now being dictated by the media what it is we want. Graham's thrilling writing, Rupert Goold's tight direction and great acting make 'Ink' a formidable production that you'll want to see."
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“For all its wildly comical late-60s vibe and its cast of hilariously stereotypical amoral newshounds, ‘Ink’ takes a perhaps surprisingly even-handed view of Murdoch and his stated aim to give the working man what he wants...At the heart of it all are two remarkable performances from...Carvel and Miller...For all its spirit of fun, ‘Ink’ stands as a well-thought-through and occasionally chilling testament to what all of us have allowed to happen.”
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"'Ink' isn’t polemical — you could even call it fair and balanced in depicting how Murdoch’s contagious competitiveness inspires his skeleton staff...Director Rupert Goold keeps the mood celebratory, at least in Act One, with impromptu dancing in the newsroom and a delightful segment of editors dramatizing headlines...Murdoch evolves from a give-the-people-what-they-want disruptor to proscriptive populist...'Ink' is a great story: lively, inventive, and chilling."
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