'Enron' Spins Financial Tragedy Into Theatrical Gold

Enron

Written by Lucy Prebble; Scenic Design and Direction, David J. Miller; Lighting Design, Jeff Adelberg; Costume Design, Fabian Aguilar; Choreographer, Wendy Hall; Sound Design, Walter Eduardo; Production Stage Manager, Deirdre Benson; Projection Design, Thom Dunn

CAST: Erin Cole, Claudia Roe; Greg Ferrisi, Andrew Fastow; Bill Salem, Ken Lay; Victor Shopov, Jeff Skilling; ENSEMBLE: Jenn Bates, James Bocock, Gigi Cochrane, Zachary Eisenstat, Michael Fisher, Becca A. Lewis, Kathryn Lynch, Mike Manship, Dmitriy Molchanov, Maya Murphy, Andrew Smith

Performances through October 16 at Zeitgeist Stage Company, Boston Center for the Arts, Plaza Black Box Theater; Box Office 617-933-8600 or www.bostontheatrescene.com

British playwright Lucy Prebble tells an amazingly complex story that would have you thinking she has a creative and convoluted imagination if she had made it all up. Oh, how we wish she had made it all up. However, her 2009 play Enron is based on the massive accounting fraud known as the "Enron scandal" which came to light in 2001, resulting in the bankruptcy of the company, the dissolution of the Arthur Andersen firm, and thousands of people losing billions of dollars in savings. As the corporation was falling, a New Theatre Company was rising in Boston; and now, ten years later, Zeitgeist Stage initiates its milestone season with an effective staging of Prebble's play.

Zeitgeist has a corner on the local market of producing plays about recent history-making events, either bona fide or factually imagined, and Enron joins the ranks of Stuff Happens and Farragut North as examples of their ability to bring this material to life with integrity, without sacrificing the theatrical mandate to entertain. In the intimate confines of the Plaza Black Box Theatre, at the Boston Center for the Arts, Director/Scenic Designer David J. Miller and his ensemble have the perfect space in which to create the excitement, the frenzy, and the gut-wrenching tailspin that characterized the journey of the Enron executives and take the audience along for the ride. When you are sitting close enough to see the whites of the actors' eyes, you don't miss much.

Our focus is fixed on the actors as Miller's set is barebones and props are minimal. Along the rear wall, there is an elevated platform employed when the script calls for the executives to address their workforce or the press, and a movie screen for Thom Dunn's projections which are strategically inserted throughout the show. However, Jeff Adelberg's lighting effects and the actions of the cast telegraph changes in location and there is never any doubt as to where a scene takes place, be it on the trading floor, running on a treadmill, or in a little girl's bedroom.

Victor Shopov is the top dog in the pack playing Jeff Skilling, the ultimate Alpha male who drove Enron to dizzying heights, only to watch it crumble at his feet. As his character zooms up the corporate ladder, Shopov morphs from a somewhat pudgy nerd into a lean, mean profit-taking machine who oozes confidence that he is the smartest guy in the room. While he inhabits the take-no-prisoners business side of Skilling, Shopov can also bring it down several notches to play the patient, loving father to Becca A. Lewis's daughter or to schmooze the stock analysts and politicians that Skilling had eating out of his hand. Gradually, Shopov's wide eyes and hair-trigger reactions betray Skilling's growing megalomania and eventual demise which parallels the decline of the stock. His performance is compelling and reason enough to see the play.

Erin Cole keeps pace with Shopov as Skilling's adversary Claudia Roe. Her disappointment at being passed over for president of the company by CEO Ken Lay (Bill Simon) is palpable and she spends the rest of the play trying alternately to ingratiate herself with or distance herself from Skilling. Cole makes both behaviors credible. Simon is uneven, although his take on Lay's personality is superior to his on again, off again southern accent. Andrew Fastow, the fourth major player in the scandal, is fleshed out nicely by Greg Ferrisi. I especially enjoyed his scenes as a whiny toady, but he capably handles the transition to finance guy, to CFO, and ultimately to indicTEd White collar criminal.

The men and women of the ensemble take on over one hundred roles, including Enron employees, lawyers, members of the press, and politicians. Costumed alike in white shirts and black pants, they blend into a unit where no one stands out, but all perform proficiently. Choreographer Wendy Hall has created a couple of "dances" for them to illustrate commodities trading, Enron style. While the ensemble members wear a virtual uniform, Costume Designer Fabian Aguilar follows the axiom that clothes make the man (or woman), dressing Shopov in a well-tailored three-piece black suit, giving Ferrisi an improved look as Fastow achieves the management tier, and creating an array of stylish outfits for Cole's ambitious female executive.   

The Zeitgeist Stage production of Enron is the first in America since the show closed on Broadway in May, 2010, after twenty-two previews and a mere sixteen performances, apparently done in by a negative review from Ben Brantley in The New York Times. It ran about eight months in London with much better notices. Having mentioned this history, I don't think it is relevant to the experience the Boston theatergoer will have at the Plaza Black Box. Director Miller has a knack for using this space and effectively weaves in the music, movement, and projections that enhance the entertainment value of the piece. I didn't know many details of the scandal before seeing Enron, but being fed the bitter pill of knowledge by Shopov and company made the medicine go down just a little easier. One of the joys of going to theatre is having the opportunity to learn about a variety of subjects, and Zeitgeist Stage offers a great classroom.

Photo Credit: Richard Hall/Silverline Images (Victor Shopov, Bill Salem, Erin Cole)

 

 

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