15th Play - Enron - by Lucy Prebble
Stephen Kunken (Andy Fastow) and Raptors in the Broadway production. Photo: Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
I have been wanting to read this play ever since a dear colleague gave me a copy, and at the time I was just overwhelmed with life. Perfect excuse to read it now! Oh, my, this one is a delightful mess!!
Summary: “ENRON is a theatrical and explosive tale of the collapse of a company. Inspired by real events, but told as a sprawling, dynamic tragedy, the play follows CEO and anti-hero Jeffrey Skilling through the journey of Enron’s rise and fall.” From Dramatists Play Service.
Laura’s thoughts in brief: Wow. This one is a DOOZY! Honestly, this was a GREAT read, but I can only imagine it would be SO MUCH BETTER live. Sigh. I was really excited to find a picture with the Raptors (that’s what those are, per the script!) in it, as I was fascinated by that brilliant playwright’s idea, which was apparently inspired by Enron’s Andy Fastow’s actual comments. The whole Enron saga is so … depressingly American, but goes way deeper. America did not invent greed (see pretty much ALL plays from history), but we have definitely learned to capitalize on it! In the spirit of transparency, in another galaxy far far away I worked for Arthur Andersen (also a character in the play), which many of you younger theatre folx won’t recall, but they were a HIGHLY respected international accounting firm that was literally destroyed by this scandal (not saying that they weren’t culpable, but the actions of a few wreaked great havoc on many). At the time, I was no longer working there (having jumped into my Millenium Falcon and headed off to get an MFA in Theatre), but had many friends who were. So, this scandal definitely rocked my world, although not as much as all the people who lost everything due to the greed and lies of the men at the top of this corporation. If you want more info about all this, watch the documentary “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.” It’s a great film about a GRAND epic American swindle story. So, back to the play. This play is as epic as the story - the dialogue is realistic and easy to follow, despite the complex financial strategies, and then there are wonderful moments of absurdity, like the appearance of the Raptors. Unknown to the rest of the company, Andy Fastow has what I want to call a “lair,” which is the metaphor for LJM, the shadow company that Enron used to hide debt and losses. In that lair dwell the Raptors. Fastow is usually the only character that deals with these creatures, who came out of his imagination (as did the shadow company scheme), but occasionally Jeff Skilling witnesses (and is almost assaulted by) the Raptors. Fun! I LOVE this mixture of reality and absurdity! I’d love to play with/as or do movement work for these Raptors in a production. There are also three blind mice, a ventriloquist dummy (little Arthur, manipulated by the character Arthur Andersen, yikes), musical numbers, projections and MORE! The playwright gives many wonderful and crazy absurd ideas to this production, and it would be fun to see the creativity that a director could bring into the mix. One could argue that this show is dated, but I heartily disagree. At a time when “corporations are people” (thank you, Supreme Court), we need to keep remembering the dangerous and sometimes desperate things that corporations and the people that run them can do. This is a fantastically historical piece, but a cautionary tale for the American people and government. I’d like to do it in DC (oh, I guess they did it in 2019, see review below - but still, can’t hurt to bring out that reminder again!) and um, maybe in some of the swing states? … But seriously, I would go see this in a heartbeat and would LOVE to play in it, do movement/intimacy work on it, anything! Let’s bring this one back. Is it cringe-y now in places? YES. And it should be. And we need to cringe and think about how we let that scandal happen, and how it could happen again if we’re not careful.
READ MORE! Here’s what others had to say about productions:
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/28/theater/reviews/28enron.html
https://newyorktheater.me/2010/05/02/enron-review-the-future-of-theater/