Ink NYC Reviews and Tickets

83%
(457 Ratings)
Positive
93%
Mixed
5%
Negative
2%
Members say
Great acting, Great staging, Absorbing, Relevant, Clever

About the Show

MTC's new play follows the brash young Rupert Murdoch in 1969 London as he purchases a struggling paper, The Sun, and sets out to make it a must-read smash. Starring Bertie Carvel ("Matilda") and Jonny Lee Miller ("Elementary").

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Show-Score Member Reviews (457)

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55 Reviews | 12 Followers
100
Riveting, Intelligent, Great acting, Clever, Absorbing

See it if Great acting, interesting story based on real events. Clever staging and good music.

Don't see it if You don't like contempoary drama; foul language

271 Reviews | 35 Followers
99
Masterful, Great writing, Great staging, Great acting, Absorbing

See it if You want a riveting story, fabulous direction, acting and staging. Humor and dance numbers were unexpected and effective. I loved it.

Don't see it if You have no interest in Rupert Murdoch.

470 Reviews | 113 Followers
97
Must see, Great acting, Great writing, Absorbing

See it if Thrilling to see how the people at The Sun will stop at nothing to become the top newspaper. See how their ratings rise, but at what price.

Don't see it if You'd be taken aback at some of the "questionable" things they'll put on page 1 (or page 3), that are mentioned in Act II.

257 Reviews | 26 Followers
97
Energetic, Riveting, Great staging, Dynamic, Absorbing

See it if you like plays with substance and excellent acting; you know Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes and want to see what he can really do

Don't see it if you don't like biographical plays; you only like musicals; you might be disappointed if you do some research and find out it's not all true

132 Reviews | 37 Followers
96
Must see, Great staging, Great acting, Entertaining, Ambitious

See it if You like great story telling, using creative stage craft to animate a true life tale of success at any cost.

Don't see it if You are looking for straight forward traditional drama and are offended but blunt and often rough street language. Read more

88 Reviews | 28 Followers
95
Riveting, Clever, Edgy, Great acting, Great staging

See it if A clever telling of Rupert Murdoch's rise. Well-acted, well-directed, energetic and topical with superb lighting and staging.

Don't see it if you're looking for a musical, have no interest in Rupert Murdoch or the genesis of tabloid news, or aren't into something so fast-paced.

57 Reviews | 14 Followers
95
Thought-provoking, Intense, Entertaining, Clever, Absorbing

See it if Great very relevant show with brilliant performance and Simon-esque sparklingly witty dialogue

Don't see it if No reason not to, unless you're scared of kidnapping

84 Reviews | 22 Followers
95
Great writing, Great acting, Funny, Entertaining

See it if You enjoy mockumentaries that move quickly and have great actors. This was a joy.

Don't see it if You are very sensitive to fowl language or swearing.

Critic Reviews (51)

The New York Times
April 24th, 2019

“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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Time Out New York
April 24th, 2019

“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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New York Theatre Guide
April 25th, 2019

"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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New York Magazine / Vulture
April 24th, 2019

“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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New Yorker
April 28th, 2019

"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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The Wall Street Journal
April 25th, 2019

"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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Deadline
April 24th, 2019

“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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New York Daily News
April 24th, 2019

“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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