Enron
The only difference between me and the people judging me is they weren’t smart enough to do what we did.
One of the most infamous scandals in financial history becomes a theatrical epic. 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.’
This Student Edition features expert and helpful annotation, including a scene-by-scene summary, a detailed commentary on the dramatic, social and political context, and on the themes, characters, language and structure of the play, as well as a list of suggested reading and questions for further study and a review of performance history.
Mixing classical tragedy with savage comedy, Enron follows a group of flawed men and women in a narrative of greed and loss which reviews the tumultuous 1990s and casts a new light on the financial turmoil in which the world finds itself in 2009.
The play was Lucy Prebble's first work for the stage since her debut work The Sugar Syndrome, winner of the George Devine and Critic's Circle Awards for Most Promising New Playwright. Produced by Headlong, Enron premiered at Chichester's Minerva Theatre on 11 July 2009 and opened at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in September, before transferring to London's West End and to Broadway in 2010.
Lucy Prebble’s first full-length play, The Sugar Syndrome (Royal Court, 2003), was awarded the George Devine Award and TMA Award for Best New Play in 2004. Alongside her stage play Enron (2009), Prebble also created the TV series Secret Diary of a Call Girl, first broadcast on ITV2 in the UK in 2007 and on Showtime in the United States in 2008. Most recently, Prebble’s 2012 play, The Effect, won Best New Play at the Critics’ Circle Awards.
Rachel Clements is a lecturer in Drama, Theatre and Performance at the University of Manchester.