Based on the book Dial M for Murdoch: News Corporation and The Corruption of Britain by Tom Watson and Martin Hickman, CORRUPTION tells the story behind the story of the phone hacking scandal that engulfed Rupert Murdoch’s media empire in 2011, stunning the world and upending British politics. When Parliament member Tom Watson is maliciously smeared by the newspapers of Murdoch’s News International, he decides to fight back - taking on its larger-than-life leader Rebekah Brooks. But what he uncovers is far more insidious than he ever imagined. As Watson and a small band of journalists, lawyers, and politicians struggle to expose the endemic criminality at the heart of this media monolith, they risk their careers and, at times, their very lives. Epic in scope and often startlingly funny, CORRUPTION tells a true-life David and Goliath story of ordinary men and women trying to find a way to save their democracy before it’s too late.
Is there anything wrong with Corruption? Putting aside the title as one handy for numberless other dramas throughout the ages, there is the above-mentioned cast list. From time to time, many of them appear as one person and reappear shortly as someone else. Observers may find themselves spending a few distracted seconds recognizing the differences. There is another element with which Rogers has had to reckon. Seemingly concerned that American audiences might not be as familiar as English audiences with the Brooks scandal, he’s gone about weighting — and said so — his important work as relevant to today’s stateside political climate. He inserts references like “above the law” occasionally and actually ends with a cry for preserving democracy, a condition that does not quite jibe with Corruption’s probe. Never mind. Rogers and Sher can take responsibility and credit for one of the season’s few must-sees.
As a news story evolving in real time, the scandal made for jaw-dropping reading. As a play, though, “Corruption” is uncompelling — counterintuitively so, given the inherent drama: the crimes, the coverup, the comeuppance (or not), the clashes of personality. Also the stakes, which include the well-being of a democracy in which one culture-shaping media magnate holds too much sway.
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