Review: Enron
Enron built on top of nothing
A brilliant play about the patterns of the market economy
For the first time in a long time, the stage of the Helsinki City Theatre will feature a drama that sharply comments on the skewed world in which we live.
Lucy Prebble’s play about the rise and fall of Enron, which only premiered in 2009, has arrived in Finland at a rapid pace.
Directed by Kari Heiskanen , the performance is clean and stylish. It moves the people on stage in a deliberate way, even when there is chaos on top. Alongside the main characters, a group of Enron members work like a choir, who speak, sing, dance and symbolically tell about the moods of the market in gestures.
The white and bare stage is dotted with a market built on top of nothing. Enron’s shares first rocket up, and then the bubble bursts down at a dizzying pace.
At times, the performance is like in a religious ecstasy. There seem to be money-making opportunities everywhere and both inside Enron and outsiders who want to dance with it have a manic gleam in their eyes.
On the other hand, the approach is analytical and tells the viewers facts. The proposal is a drastic dose of market economy knowledge.
In the wake of a real tragedy, a large number of people plunging into ruin, losing their possessions, and a ruined market are left behind.
The music in the play is skilfully used – both previously made and created by Jukka Hakoköngäs on stage.
The dense atmosphere of an empty stage
The story of energy giant Enron is unparalleled. It was able to fool the financial world with a trick whose ruthlessness no one even dared to suspect.
The actors of the tricks are Eero Aho, Seppo Maijala and Iikka Forss. Everyone makes an excellent image of their hubris-possessed character.
Jeffrey Skilling, played by Aho, comes up with the idea that future profits can be marked today, regardless of whether they materialize.
Forss’s Chief Financial Officer, Andy Fastow, innovated ingenious hiding places for debt. Andy, who works maniacally, builds his box models and debt-devouring raptors, giant lizards.
As the chairman of the board, Maijala is politely slippery and maintains relations everywhere.
There is only one woman who opposes men’s empty dealing, Claudia Roe, played brilliantly by Milka Ahlroth . He has to give his place to Jeffrey at the helm of the company.
Inside the chilly hall, people intrigue, dream of victories, play paintball warfare and make love. The most interesting screen view for the people on stage is the drawing of the price curve.
When it’s all over and an old employee belittles Enron’s management for lost money by saying “you did it wrong”, the management replies “yes, so what”.
The play draws you in and explains the mechanism of the market economy in a fascinating way. It’s not boring for a moment, even though the drama of relationships is on the sidelines. There is another stage on the stage that is strikingly real.