Bartlett Sher to Direct J.T. Rogers’ Corruption for Lincoln Center Theater

Lincoln Center Theater will present Corruption, a new play by Oslo playwright J.T. Rogers, directed by Bartlett Sher, it was announced today.

Based on the book Dial M for Murdoch: News Corporation and The Corruption of Britain by Tom Watson and Martin Hickman, Corruption will begin previews February 15, 2024, with an official opening date set for March 11, 2024, at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater.

Rogers has found a subject that suits his knack for copious research. Corruption tells the story of the discovery and investigation of the News International phone hacking scandal in the U.K. It follows the character of Tom Watson, a charismatic M.P. drawn into conflict with Rebekah Brooks, the formidable Chief Executive of News International, under whose reign the News of the World and The Sun tabloid newspapers set out to destroy lives.

According to an audition notice for the production, James Murdoch, sometime heir apparent to Rupert Murdoch’s empire and then-Chief Executive for Europe and Asia of News Corporation, is also a character in the play. (In September, Rupert Murdoch, aged 92, announced that he would be stepping back from day-to-day oversight of his media empire.) Casting will be announced at a later date.

Corruption will have sets by Michael Yeargan, costumes by Jennifer Moeller, lighting by Donald Holder, sound by Justin Ellington and projections by 59 Productions/Benjamin Pearcy and Brad Peterson.

“As a playwright, I look to tell stories that are framed against great political rupture,” Rogers told The New York Times in 2016. “I am obsessed with putting characters onstage who struggle with, and against, cascading world events—and who are changed forever through that struggle.”

Rogers’ Oslo played both the Mitzi E. Newhouse (in 2016) and Vivian Beaumont theaters (in 2017) at Lincoln Center Theater under Sher’s direction. Sher was most recently the director of Camelot and Pictures From Home.