Enron (Modern Plays)

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We don't have those kings and emperors any more, the stuff of traditional tragedy," Prebble says, "but corporate CEOs are probably the closest we come to it. Making decisions that affect millions of lives, and they were often undone, as we have seen, by greed and worse." The recession, we are told, is officially over; but the big story in the arts this autumn is the way the global financial system came close to collapse. Last week, BBC2's drama The Last Days of Lehman Brothers focused on the demise of a specific bank; while Michael Moore's new film, Capitalism: a Love Story, premiering at the Venice film festival, took the longer view. Already theatre is making use of both approaches. Lucy Prebble's Enron, shortly transferring from Chichester to the Royal Court, depicts in forensic detail the spectacular crash of a Texan energy giant. Meanwhile, David Hare's The Power of Yes, opening at the National Theatre in October, promises to investigate the way socialist methods were used to rescue an ailing capitalism. Nor should we forget the tiny Soho theatre in London, which was first in the field with Everything Must Go, in which 10 writers offered their personal take on the fiscal fiasco. Historically, theatre has always been alert to the paradoxes of capitalism. Marx famously quoted Timon of Athens in Das Kapital, for showing what happened when "the cold cash nexus" replaced true human relationships. Ibsen portrayed the self-delusion of a Napoleon of commerce in John Gabriel Borkman; Harley Granville Barker's The Voysey Inheritance is a classic study of pre-Maxwell criminal fraud, in which a solicitor speculates with his clients' money.

Hitchings 'Here is the blustering energy of capitalism, the illusion of being a delirious romp; and here too its narcissism and testosterone-fueled nastiness.' Clement, Olivia. "David Cromer Sets Cast for Lucy Prebble's 'The Effect' Off-Broadway" playbill.com, 28 January 2016 A large part of the successful conveying of director Neve Kennedy’s vision can be attributed to the show’s atmosphere and physical presence. The set is, at first, quite unassuming, consisting of blank walls and an imposing staircase leading to the throne-like chair which acts as a Marxist reminder of the hierarchies of power that undercut the plot. For cost savings, you can change your plan at any time online in the “Settings & Account” section. If you’d like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial. After her hit with Enron, Lucy Prebble turns to medicine and the mind - to great effect ... The Effect is a four-hander that hopscotches confidently across themes of neurology, psychopharmacology, depression, love and guilt ... The Effect moves you to thought, sometimes to strong feeling.” –

In telling the now familiar story of how, in 15 years, Enron, a Texas-based energy company, grew from nothing to become America’s 7th largest company, employing 21,000 people in 40 countries, and how, through creative accounting, debt concealment and fraudulent dealings, they became the architects of the corporate world’s biggest scandal to date, the show’s creative team have made a theatrical killing. The play concerns the financial scandal and collapse of " ENRON", the American energy corporation, based in Texas. Enron executive Jeffrey Skilling and his boss Kenneth Lay are shown, as well as Skilling's protege Andy Fastow, who rises to become the chief financial officer.

Enron is a magnificently imaginative play combining documentarian realism with expressionistic flourishes. It’s really hard to categorize the play – it depends what scene you open. It features rather naturalistic dialogue alongside the appearance of prehistoric raptors, a board of directors wearing pig heads, Siamese twin Lehman Brothers, ventriloquist and dummy Arthur Anderson, and so forth. I honesty don’t know how it was performed with things like this. It must have had a relatively huge cast for a contemporary (non-musical) today.Enron premiered at the Chichester Festival Theatre (11 July – 29 August 2009), before London transfers to the Jerwood Downstairs at the Royal Court Theatre from 17 September to 7 November 2009 and then the Noël Coward Theatre from 16 January to 14 August 2010 (after a cast change on 8 May). [2] Directed by Rupert Goold with associate Sophie Hunter, [3] the cast featured Samuel West as Jeffrey Skilling, Tom Goodman-Hill as Andrew Fastow, Amanda Drew as Claudia Roe, and Tim Pigott-Smith as Ken Lay. [4]

Cover -- ENRON -- Act One -- Scene One -- Scene Two -- Scene Three -- Scene Four -- Scene Five -- Scene Six -- Scene Seven -- Scene Eight -- Scene Nine -- Act Two -- Scene One -- Scene Two -- Scene Three -- Scene Four -- Scene Five -- Scene Six -- Scene Seven -- Scene Eight -- Scene Nine -- Scene Ten -- Act Three -- Scene One -- Scene Two -- Scene Three -- Scene Four -- Scene Five -- Scene Six Prebble is currently restaging her superb early play, The Effect, about a clinical trial gone wrong. Paapa Essiedu and Taylor Russell star as two participants who fall in love while under observation, the problem being that they cannot trust the intense emotions threatening to tear apart their previous lives. The Effect, like all Prebble’s works – from plays Enron and A Very Expensive Poison to TV shows Succession and I Hate Suzie – is both provocative and entertaining. The Succession writers’ room was different. Filled with British and American talent – mostly from the world of comedy – its atmosphere couldn’t have been further away from the “slightly swaggering, dry academia” of British theatre: “It was like exhaling. Like coming home. Generous, compassionate and safe.” Prebble adds, hinting at just how hard she has found the play-writing process in the past: “I discovered how much easier it was to be creative and funny having a conversation with other people rather than just with yourself, which can sometimes get a little odd and self-punishing.”Jones, Kenneth. "'Enron', a Theatrical Dissection of a Famous Crime, Opens on Broadway" playbill.com, 27 April 2010 Clements 'In the gleaming edifice of Skilling's Enron - all glass, transparency, and openness - is a huge irony.' One year, she chose The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera – an 1984 novel about a young woman who falls in love with a man with a rapacious sex drive. Another year, age 11, Prebble chose Killing for Company: The Case of Dennis Nilsen – about Britain’s second worst serial killer. Hemming, Sarah (24 September 2009). "Enron, Royal Court, London". Financial Times. London . Retrieved 20 October 2009. Initially I was worried that their powerhouse production was in danger of overwhelming Prebble’s text through overkill. The first half, in which you gradually get to know the main players, blurred some of the narrative issues through an excess of stage business and visual affects. At times it almost appeared that Goold had lost confidence in the text and was impelled to gussy up the exposition in case the audience grew bored with its boardroom politics.