Is Enron worth it?

As there appears to be no deals on this and a completely sell out, im toying with paying full whack for this. Does it live up to the hype? and, if its between the two, is Jerusalum worth it more?

Looks like plays are out doing musicals for once, with 'Jerusalem', 'Enron', 'War horse' and 'The Misanthrope' all hot tickets.

Thanks mark, didnt realise it had daysets, meant to book a cheapseat last weekend but tubefail meant I didnt have time to hit the boxoffice.

Have to say I was a little disappointed in Enron. Maybe my expectations were just too high? I was slightly worried that as someone with literally NO understanding of finance I would struggle to follow it... in fact I found the opposite. Every point explained ten times over with some of the clunkiest exposition I've heard in years - "Does no-one in this room understand mark-to-market? OK, I'll explain it..." , "How often have we had sex?" "Four times." etc. (I'm sure those aren't the exact lines, but you get the idea.) However I enjoyed most of the performances, especially Samuel West and a horribly convincing Tom Goodman-Hill. Tim Pigott-Smith was good, despite sporting the worst of a bad bunch of accents, but while I could believe that Skilling and Fastow were presented fairly accurately, I'm not sure I believe that Lay had quite as little involvement in the actual scandal as he is presented to have had here. Especially since I do remember very clearly how people reacted when he died. The physical production was very impressive, I loved the raptors and the lightsabers and the projections and the dancing and the general flashy trickery. Frankly, the play needs them. Will be interesting to see what Broadway makes of it.

The Oliviers obviously don't think so

My partner and I had a special interest in seeing 'Enron' - he worked for them for a year (and lost his hair due to the stress!).

We missed out on tickets for its first outing at Chichester so jumped as soon as possible for seats at The Royal Court and it was certainly worth it. Yes, much of the financial stuff is explained in layman's terms but the average punter, even one working in finance, wouldn't be expected to understand some of the dodgy accounting practises that Lay, Skilling and Fastow came up with.

To really prepare myself for the play I read the book 'The Smartest Men In The Room' which, while a bit dry and heavy-going at times, helped with so many of the details that are glossed over in the play. For instance, the light sabres which are used in the show are a reference to the many Star Wars-like names that were given to Enron accounts projects (Death Star etc.), a fact that is never mentioned on stage.

One of the most interesting facts is that 'Enron', which opens on Broadway in a few weeks time, is only the second play by Lucy Prebble, her first was produced at the tiny Jerwood Theatre Upstairs. It will be fascinating to see what she follows it up with.

Slim pickings for musicals at the Oliviers, I thought, but 4 real powerhouse new plays- any one would have been a respectable winner!

Actually, the only one I haven't seen is the winner. Has anyone here seen it?

I saw Enron at the Royal Court at full price and thought it was absolutely worth it. Jerusalem though, in my opinion, is the better play, and Mark Rylance's performance is a tour-de-force that really should be seen. I'd recommend Jerusalem over Enron.

Yep, I was with someone here yesterday and they said it could go in 3 weeks time- maybe less. It just cant find its feet they it has in the UK. The Broadhurst has been seen as the wrong theatre for it. Having seen many things at the Broadhurst, it really isnt a theatre for straight plays.

There always slagging the brits over on that board. And they wonder why the world hates Americans.

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True

As Enron has just announced it is closing at the Broadhurst, did not find its market and maybe a too sensitive story for the Americans.

Great article from The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2010/may/05/enron-broadway-close-early

Broadway is no more conservative than the West End, look around at what's playing.

I agree, but I think one key difference between the West End and Broadway is that there are other theatres in London like the NT and the Royal Court and the Donmar that aren't West End theatres but are often thought of as part of that group, and a huge amount of the quality theatre is either playing there or has transferred directly from there - not West End theatre, but often grouped in with it, including at all the main award ceremonies. From what I can tell, and I could be wrong about this, the difference between commercial and non-commercial theatre is far more clear in New York than in London.

If you compare the commercial West End with the commercial Broadway, ignoring the subsidised theatres, then neither is better than the other (and both are pretty grim).

Updated On: 5/5/10 at 11:31 AM