The Power of Yes

Archive Listings for The Power of Yes

A dramatist seeks to understand the financial crisis - T0220229323

Running time 1hr 45mins - no interval.Producer National Theatre. Director Angus Jackson. Design Bob Crowley. Lighting Paule Constable. Design Jon Driscoll (projection). Music Stephen Warbeck. Sound John Leonard. Performer Julien Ball. Performer Ian Bartholomew. Performer Jasper Britton. Performer Richard Corderey. Performer Jonathan Coy. Performer Mark Elstob. Performer Paul Freeman. Performer Ian Gelder. Performer John Hollingworth. Performer Bruce Myers. Performer Claire Price. Performer Jeff Rawle. Performer Christian Roe. Performer Jemima Rooper. Performer Malcolm Sinclair. Performer Peter Sullivan. Performer Nicolas Tennant. Performer Alan Vicary. Performer Simon Williams. Performer Lizzie Winkler.

29 Sep 09 to 18 Apr 10

Lyttelton (National Theatre), West End :: V374
listing details L01662619281

Details

Play :: A dramatist seeks to understand the financial crisis. In retrospect is it fair to say that the idea that banks could manage risk was a total illusion? On 15 September 2008, capitalism came to a grinding halt. As sub-prime mortgages and toxic securities continued to dominate the headlines, this spring the National Theatre asked David Hare to write an urgent and immediate work to be staged this autumn that sought to find out what had happened, and why. Capitalism works when greed and fear are in the correct balance. This time they got out of balance. Too much greed, not enough fear. Meeting with many of the key players from the financial world, David Hare, author of The Permanent Way and Stuff Happens, has created The Power of Yes: a compelling narrative, as enlightening as it is entertaining. It’s like a ship which you’re being told is in apple-pie order, the decks are cleaned, the metal is burnished, the only thing nobody mentions: it’s being driven at full speed towards an iceberg. Not so much a play as a jaw-dropping account of how, as the banks went bust, capitalism was replaced by a socialism that bailed out the rich alone.

Author