Enron (Modern Plays)

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But as was true of the company of this play's title, the energy generated here often feels factitious, all show (or show and tell) and little substance. It was definitely a unique way of telling a real live event and it definitely got the point across about how this company ended up where it ended up. Equal parts low comedy and high tragedy, this fast moving play will hold your attention like a gruesome train wreck.

I haven't been including many plays in my reading challenges lately so I figure I would change that and begin with this one. A darkly exhilarating portrait of hypertrophied capitalism and a society that allows faith-based fiscal systems to ravage the body economic…a sharp-witted and rollicking business thriller to dazzle the eye and tickle the brain…Prebble’s characters are deliciously vital and self-aware.It is difficult to feel sympathy for such a man, whose deregulation policies did so much damage, but West reminds us of the global complicity in money worship.

The Guardian 's critic Michael Billington speculated that it was The New York Times ' "hostile" review that contributed to its premature closure. At once a case study and an allegory, the play charts the notorious rise and fall of Enron and its founding partners Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, who became 'the most vilified figure from the financial scandal of the century. In The New York Times review of the Broadway production, Ben Brantley wrote, contrary to some other critics, "even with a well-drilled cast that includes bright Broadway headliners like Norbert Leo Butz and Marin Mazzie, the realization sets in early that this British-born exploration of smoke-and-mirror financial practices isn’t much more than smoke and mirrors itself. 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).Thus the complicity of market analysts in Enron's over-evaluation is captured by turning them into a close-harmony troupe. Once the market loses confidence, however, Skilling's schemes are revealed for what they are: a fraudulent fantasy. i will definitely be reading again - mostly because i ahve to, the play won't revise itself - but i am sure i will emjoy it a second time.

Lucy Prebble's hugely ambitious play, covering the rise and fall of the Texan energy company, Enron, is an exhilarating mix of political satire, modern morality and multimedia spectacle. Drama-wise this was innovative and fresh, likely deliberate by Prebble to reflect the real company of Enron.

They did something to do with creating shadow companies to make it appear as if they didn't have any debt? What keeps me away from this particular subject is the fear of dryness: of technical jargon that, though fascinating, requires a lot of mental effort to slog through.

That, in a nutshell, is Enron (the play): the basics of the scandal, what led up to it and the major players involved. But the pulse and vigour of play and production stem from their ability to make complex financial ideas manifest. Not only is this an exceptionally conceived story, it taught be a huge amount about financial systems and the banking crisis. Amanda Drew as his rival, Tim Pigott-Smith as Enron's avuncular founder, and Tom Goodman-Hill as the greed-driven Fastow, haunted by the scaly raptors which symbolise the shadow-companies, are also first-rate. How many pieces of drama about business fraud do you know have Jurassic Park references, android accountants, 3 blind mice, messiah imagery and raptors?Michael Billington, critic for The Guardian, dubbed Brantley's comments an "obtuse and hostile review", [7] stating that " Enron 's fate was sealed the moment Brantley's review appeared [.