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Money making the world go . . . stop Enron Birmingham Repertory Theatre **** ‘The
love of money' it is
said. ‘is the root of
all evil' . Perhaps
Jeffrey Skilling, CEO of one of America's biggest ever financial
corporations, Enron, should have listened. In 16 years, Enron's assets grew from $10 billion
to $70 billion dollars, lining the pockets of the fat cats who ran it
and fleecing the workers on the floor as well as the shareholders who
invested their hopes and their cash. Its collapse took just 24 days – a
fall from grace of the highest order. Rupert Goold's fast moving production of Lucy Prebbles
second full length play , arrives in Birmingham hot on the heels of
a well-received West End run. Its transfer to Broadway earlier this year
was less successful , lasting just over a week. A mauling from the New
York Times and a failure to receive a Tony award nomination could not
have helped. No such negativity, this side of the pond- and
rightly so. As a piece of theatre, it is, just like Skilling's
description of Enron, highly ‘innovative'. The tale is
relatively straightforward – it's the way it's told that grabs the
attention. A fast moving mix of straight drama, polished dance
routines, musical theatre style songs and a soundtrack that switches
from Guns and Roses to Dolly Parton, drives the play along
at pace and with impressive dynamism. Set wise, it's simple. Small wooden blocks are
carried on and off by the actors and serve a variety of uses from gym
treadmills to makeshift podiums. But that's fine.
It's not about the set, it's about the story and how
it's portrayed. Through it all the action is supported by a
visual feast of archive video footage and well designed lighting that
serves to complement the action rather than simply pad it out. To be picky, there was at times some distortion on the
audio which made it hard to understand. No doubt that will be
tweaked for the rest of the run. Symbolism features heavily throughout the play..
Ever present in the bowels of Enron's evil underworld, are
the hungry ‘Raptors' – reptile headed ‘suits' who swallow up the huge
debts that Enron passed off as ‘assets'. The infamous Leehman brothers are portrayed as
Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee type figures who are unable to think as
‘one'. Lawyers at the trial wear blindfolds, turning , as it were,
a blind eye to the proceedings. This is not a play told in a
naturalistic style (although there is some bitingly powerful dialogue
within it ) but when the subject of the play is so distorted and unreal
it seems appropriate to approach it that way.
A play can stand and fall by its casting and this is
faultless. There are strong performances all round. Corey Johnson, as
Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling, is outstanding. Every aspect of
Skilling's greed, mania, obsession and immorality is played out with
measured force by Johnson and by the end of the play, as he stood
deposed but not defeated in his orange prison uniform, it was hard to
take your eyes off him. Clive Francis , playing the Founder and Chairman of
Enron, Ken Lay , plays arrogance to perfection. Mention too, must be
made of Sara Stewart who plays Claudia Roe, the power dressing exec with
an allure she knows exactly how to use. Paul Chahidi, as the
brilliantly tainted Andy Fastow, Enron's Financial Officer who finds a
way to ‘ hide' the losses, almost steals the show. But this is
talented and multi–skilled cast and there is no weak link. A morality tale? Corporate Satire? A
multimedia spectacle? Enron is all of those things. If
theatre is to continue to develop new audiences, it needs to evolve and
reflect the time we live in. This ticks the box and is bang on the
money. To 28-09-10. Tom Roberts
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