ENRON

Synopsis

One of the most infamous scandals in financial history becomes a theatrical epic in Lucy Prebble’s play. Mixing classical tragedy with savage comedy, it follows a group of flawed men and women in a narrative of greed and loss which reviews the tumultuous 1990s and casts a new light on the financial turmoil in which the world finds itself in 2009. Based on real life and using music, movement and video, Enron explores one of the most infamous scandals in financial history, reviewing the tumultuous 1990s and casting a new light on the financial turmoil in which the world finds itself in 2009.

Latest User Review

Alaina O'Sullivan - 1 November 2009:

Three Blind Mice, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and debt guzzling raptors: now there are three things I never thought I’d put together. These are just some of the images you can expect in Lucy Prebble’s ‘Enron’. Amongst them you will find businessmen yielding light sabres and a Siamese twin version of the Lehman Brothers. Although you wouldn’t immediately associate these images with the financial scandal of American energy company ‘Enron’, this is exactly what the extremely talented Prebble has done. And as the Enron slogan demands, I hear you asking WHY? This is just one of the techniques that Prebble uses to un-complicate the financial jargon and the confusing world of the stock market to tell the story whilst catering to stock market innocents like myself. Expect to laugh at the humour throughout the play and, don’t worry, the baffling business terminologies are explained to the audience. One recurring idea throughout the piece was that money, or greed for money consumes your life. Jeffrey Skilling (Samuel West) suffers both physically and mentally from running this scandal and is visibly worn down. One memorable scene which strengthened the message that greed for money is harmful includes a chorus of business people becoming more and more mechanical as they become obsessed with making money. Computerised numbers are projected over the actors making them appear almost non-human. The music becomes obsessive getting faster and faster and with it so do the actions of the business people. The words gold and aluminum are projected on the stage and the business people go crazy for it. It showed the audience how people can get swept up by the idea of money and greed for money can spiral out of control. The audience also get easily swept up by it all to show just how the whole world got swept up by Enron. The play has an exciting and comic style with recognisable and catchy songs that you will find yourself singing along to. The changes between scenes were quick and efficient so you have no time to stop and think about what’s actually happening. The humour and the serious aspects of the play had more merit individually but worked against each other when put together. The comic element of the play also affected the ending negatively as I felt I should be sympathetic towards the millions of people who lost their life savings but I didn’t. The lighting (Mark Henderson) and the design (Anthony Ward) were carefully thought out and the animated acting brilliantly brought the key members of the scandal back to life. Rupert Goold (director) may have jam packed a lot of ideas into this play and despite the slightly long running time ‘Enron’ is entertaining, informative and fast paced throughout. ...

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