By mistake, I had booked a matinee performance and went in on a beautiful sunny day thinking 'this had better be good'. Fortunately it was. The story is of the first year of the Sun newspaper in the ownership of Murdoch and the Editorship of Larry Lamb. The story itself is quite interesting but I did not feel it had that many 'makes you think' lines. What made me think more was that the play managed to engender a certain sympathy for Murdoch and his organ and it also confronted the audience with issues that seemed so controversial at the time but nowadays seem less discussed - in particular what is the role of a newspaper. Is it to convey news or to have a good laugh, giving people what they want? - TV and tits. I suppose there were various other 'take what you like' conclusions such as the motivating power of a single objective - in this case overtaking the Mirror in a year and the power of teamwork.
The play decided to portray Murdoch quite sympathetically. He merely wanted to run a newspaper as a business. Bertie Carvel played him as the nicer and more refined of the two - he and Lamb. His body language was always rather stooped and he was presented as slightly prudish and less ruthless than his lieutenant with a slight Reginald Perrin manner.
The acting throughout was great and the energy made me glad I saw the matinee - On such a hot day, it was hard to imagine them doing the whole thing again with only a two hour nap.
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