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.

Our Review:

27 January 2010

How fitting that the West End transfer of Lucy Prebble’s much-lauded Enron, a play about the corruption and collapse of corporate finance, should open on the very day that the UK officially emerged from a recession caused by those very factors.

The great Samuel West leads the same cast as that which first appeared at the Chichester Minerva Theatre in July last year, then at the Royal Court in the autumn, and the company crackle with energy and wit now just as they did in each of the previous incarnations of the show.

Anthony Ward’s set looks fantastic on the larger stage of the Noel Coward Theatre after the more confined environment of the Court and Rupert Goold’s thrilling staging, complete with light sabre choreography, stalking raptors and line-dancing traders is a theatrical feast. This transfer is just what Prebble’s astoundingly mature play deserves.

- Jo Caird

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