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In his 2017review in theTimes, Ben Brantley called J. T. RogerssOsloundeniably a big play.
Thats a value-neutral statement, though he followed it up with plenty of praise.
Thats the behind-closed-doors story of the 1980s power struggle over Afghanistan.
The really heartbreaking question of it all was and remains: What difference did it make?
When the truth is spoken, is anyone listening?
That last question should plagueCorruptions characters, and us in the audience, from a diegetic, ethical perspective.
Tom (Toby Stephens) rallies his colleagues at the plays midpoint.
But the irony is that the show itself feels more lumbering giant than scrappy young hero.
The truth is that theyre both pushing, overcompensating for a text thats all expositional surface.
And I understand that were at risk, which is definitely scary.
That woman is Rebekah Brooks (Saffron Burrows).
(Ire around the Dowler hacking ultimately helped light a public fire under Watsons cause.)
If Rogers thinks hes cutting off objections at the pass, well, sorry.
Neither complexity nor Anglocentrism is the problem here.
The problem is a failure to access any part of us below the neck.
Something real that deserves our outrage has, in story form, merely provoked our indifference.
Andthatis a dangerous cycle.
Corruptionis at the Mitzi E. Newhouse at Lincoln Center Theater.
