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Lucy Prebble’s Enron (2009): The Financial Crisis as Theatrical Spectacle in the Era of Liquid Modernity

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The New Wave of British Women Playwrights
This chapter is in the book The New Wave of British Women Playwrights

Abstract

Women playwrights experienced a new visibility at the end of the first decade of the 21st century on both subsidised and commercial stages. Although branded as part of the new wave of diverse “female dramatists,” Lucy Prebble firmly believes that women writers should not be restricted to certain subjects because of their gender. First performed at the Royal Court in 2009, Enron tackles the world of unregulated, global capitalism and offers a new take on the British state-of-the-nation genre by drawing on the story of the downfall of the American energy corporation. However, this article explores the ways in which Prebble goes beyond the naturalistic tradition. The strikingly imaginative dramaturgy based on song, dance, puppetry and multi-media projections produces a hybrid form, oscillating between comedy, musical, tragedy and morality fable. As well as demonstrating how the visual effects render the indecipherable world of neo-liberalism more accessible, the article considers the theatrical and meta-theatrical spectacle as a reflection of the artifice at the heart of Enron. It also draws attention to the way in which the dramatist offers a biting satire of corporate greed whilst simultaneously conveying the exhilarating but disorderly atmosphere of the board room. Finally, to facilitate a better understanding of Prebble’s work, the chapter looks closely at the parallels between the play’s aesthetics and Zygmunt Bauman’s metaphor of “liquid modernity” used to convey the uncertain, transient nature of the modern human condition, brought about by the fluid, unstable nature of post-industrial capitalism.

Abstract

Women playwrights experienced a new visibility at the end of the first decade of the 21st century on both subsidised and commercial stages. Although branded as part of the new wave of diverse “female dramatists,” Lucy Prebble firmly believes that women writers should not be restricted to certain subjects because of their gender. First performed at the Royal Court in 2009, Enron tackles the world of unregulated, global capitalism and offers a new take on the British state-of-the-nation genre by drawing on the story of the downfall of the American energy corporation. However, this article explores the ways in which Prebble goes beyond the naturalistic tradition. The strikingly imaginative dramaturgy based on song, dance, puppetry and multi-media projections produces a hybrid form, oscillating between comedy, musical, tragedy and morality fable. As well as demonstrating how the visual effects render the indecipherable world of neo-liberalism more accessible, the article considers the theatrical and meta-theatrical spectacle as a reflection of the artifice at the heart of Enron. It also draws attention to the way in which the dramatist offers a biting satire of corporate greed whilst simultaneously conveying the exhilarating but disorderly atmosphere of the board room. Finally, to facilitate a better understanding of Prebble’s work, the chapter looks closely at the parallels between the play’s aesthetics and Zygmunt Bauman’s metaphor of “liquid modernity” used to convey the uncertain, transient nature of the modern human condition, brought about by the fluid, unstable nature of post-industrial capitalism.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Acknowledgements V
  3. Table of Contents VII
  4. Introduction: “Are We Not Over That?” 1
  5. I Ecodramaturgies and Global Crisis
  6. Population Concerns, Reproductive Justice, and Gendered Perspectives in Florence Keith-Roach’s Eggs (2015), Vivienne Franzmann’s Bodies (2017) and Maud Dromgoole’s 3 Billion Seconds (2018) 9
  7. Sexual and Gender-Based Violence on Female Bodies: Ecofeminism in Lucy Kirkwood’s Maryland (2021) and Ellie Kendrick’s and RashDash’s Hole (2018) 35
  8. Lucy Prebble’s Enron (2009): The Financial Crisis as Theatrical Spectacle in the Era of Liquid Modernity 57
  9. How To Survive a Crisis: Forming a New Self in Zinnie Harris’s How to Hold Your Breath (2015) 75
  10. II The Politics of Intimacy
  11. Ella Hickson’s ANNA (2019) and Lucy Kirkwood’s Mosquitoes (2017): Staging the Female Body Electric 91
  12. debbie tucker green’s ‘troumatic’ dramaturgy 111
  13. “Who Gets to Speak and How?”: Staging Autofiction in Debris Stevenson’s Poet in da Corner (2018) and Ella Hickson’s The Writer (2018) 131
  14. III Experimenting with Forms
  15. “I Want the World to Change Shape”: Form and Politics in Ella Hickson’s The Writer (2018) 151
  16. Challenging Realism: The Confines of Domesticity in Morna Pearson’s Plays 171
  17. Alice Birch – A Poet in the Theatre 191
  18. Alecky Blythe and “Headphone Verbatim”: a Study of The Girlfriend Experience (2008) 205
  19. IV In Conversation with…
  20. Feeling a Responsibility to Art: An Interview with Ella Hickson 225
  21. The Gordian Knots of Theatre: An Interview with Lucy Kirkwood by Elisabeth Angel-Perez and Aloysia Rousseau 239
  22. Notes on Contributors 247
  23. Index of playwrights, theatre practitioners and key concepts 251
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110796322-005

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Acknowledgements V
  3. Table of Contents VII
  4. Introduction: “Are We Not Over That?” 1
  5. I Ecodramaturgies and Global Crisis
  6. Population Concerns, Reproductive Justice, and Gendered Perspectives in Florence Keith-Roach’s Eggs (2015), Vivienne Franzmann’s Bodies (2017) and Maud Dromgoole’s 3 Billion Seconds (2018) 9
  7. Sexual and Gender-Based Violence on Female Bodies: Ecofeminism in Lucy Kirkwood’s Maryland (2021) and Ellie Kendrick’s and RashDash’s Hole (2018) 35
  8. Lucy Prebble’s Enron (2009): The Financial Crisis as Theatrical Spectacle in the Era of Liquid Modernity 57
  9. How To Survive a Crisis: Forming a New Self in Zinnie Harris’s How to Hold Your Breath (2015) 75
  10. II The Politics of Intimacy
  11. Ella Hickson’s ANNA (2019) and Lucy Kirkwood’s Mosquitoes (2017): Staging the Female Body Electric 91
  12. debbie tucker green’s ‘troumatic’ dramaturgy 111
  13. “Who Gets to Speak and How?”: Staging Autofiction in Debris Stevenson’s Poet in da Corner (2018) and Ella Hickson’s The Writer (2018) 131
  14. III Experimenting with Forms
  15. “I Want the World to Change Shape”: Form and Politics in Ella Hickson’s The Writer (2018) 151
  16. Challenging Realism: The Confines of Domesticity in Morna Pearson’s Plays 171
  17. Alice Birch – A Poet in the Theatre 191
  18. Alecky Blythe and “Headphone Verbatim”: a Study of The Girlfriend Experience (2008) 205
  19. IV In Conversation with…
  20. Feeling a Responsibility to Art: An Interview with Ella Hickson 225
  21. The Gordian Knots of Theatre: An Interview with Lucy Kirkwood by Elisabeth Angel-Perez and Aloysia Rousseau 239
  22. Notes on Contributors 247
  23. Index of playwrights, theatre practitioners and key concepts 251
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