Ink

I always remember my dad telling me that there are three words you need to get into a newspaper headline: win because everyone likes the chance to win something, free because everyone likes the idea of something free, and sex for obvious reasons. He always said the ideal newspaper headline was ‘Win Free Sex’, but that is a difficult one to arrange. I found it quite fascinating Ink describing the use of these words as the show depicted the rise of the Sun newspaper and how it went from being the most unsuccessful paper in the UK to the most successful.

The show was gripping. I was on the edge of my seat throughout as we followed the negotiations of Murdoch as he buys the newspaper and recruits Larry Lamb, and then the negotiations of Lamb as he recruits his mismatched team and reinvents the paper, going to war with the Mirror to beat their sales.

There was an intensity that I have seldom experienced at the theatre; a strong energy permeated the show through a gripping back and forth dialogue, an exciting messy set, and a powerful soundtrack with a number of electrifying songs throughout. Bertie Carvel (a man who I remember fondly as playing an excellent Johnathan Strange in the TV show Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrell) was a surprisingly sympathetic Rupert Murdoch, a man with reservations about what his editor is doing. Lamb, played by Richard Coyle, is a driven editor, obsessed with defeating his former newspaper (the Mirror) whom he feels betrayed him. The whole cast was excellent depicting this fascinating slice of British media history.

This show works as both an insight into the British media and as a gripping drama. It is one of the best shows I have seen all year. If you have any interest in this subject at all you should go; it is quite captivating.