22 June 2010
NEWS RELEASE
A GROUNDBREAKING TALE OF FINANCIAL WOE AND A
FABLE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY – ENRON IS COMING
“Are you kidding me? Did we take advantage? That’s what we do, that’s how
the world works.”
One of the West End’s most anticipated shows ever, the political thriller Enron,
is set to arrive at Newcastle Theatre Royal in November, 2- 6.
Directed by multiple award winning Headlong Theatre Artistic Director Rupert Goold,
Enron brings to vivid life the true story of one of the most infamous scandals in
financial history, and describes the sequence of events that led to the large-scale
collapse of one of the world’s biggest companies and the American business world
around it.
The tale of Enron is a modern day fable for the perils of greed and the exploitation of
power. In the 1990s, The Enron Corporation was one of America’s most powerful
energy companies, employing 22,000 people and claiming revenues in excess of
$100 billion (in 2000). Then in 2001 a scandal occurred of epic-proportions that
rocked the global financial markets and sent shockwaves through the wider world. It
was discovered that the company was largely sustained by accounting fraud, a
situation which led to its collapse the same year and the dissolution of several major
firms close to it.
In Enron the play, the narrative follows the organisation’s flawed men and women
through the tumultuous 1990’s and casts a new light on the financial turmoil in which
the world finds itself in 2010. Combining classic tragedy with savage comedy, it
presents a series of top-class performances supported by music, dance, movement
and video.
Enron author Lucy Prebble won the George Devine Award and the Critics Circle
Award for Most Promising Playwright for her debut play The Sugar Syndrome at the
Royal Court in 2004. On television, her work includes creating the series Secret Diary
of a Call Girl. Enron is her second play.
Enron director Rupert Goold won an Olivier Award for the show, as well as an
Evening Standard Award and a Critics Circle Award for Best Director. Goold’s recent
credits include the award-winning Macbeth and Six Characters in Search of an
Author, which both transferred to the West End, with Macbeth going on to Broadway,
Time and the Conways at the National Theatre and Pete Postlethwaite in King Lear.
His West End productions include No Man’s Land and Oliver! at the Theatre Royal,
Drury Lane. He is Associate Director at the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he
recently directed an epic version of Romeo and Juliet set to appear at the Newcastle
Theatre Royal in September.
The cast includes Corey Johnson as Jeffrey Skilling, Paul Chahidi as Andy Fastow,
Sara Stewart as Claudia Roe and Clive Francis as Kenneth Lay.
Full cast includes: Shane Attwooll, Matt Blair, Saskia Butler, Paul Chahidi, Simon
Coombs, Matt Dempsey, Suzannah Fellows, Clive Francis, Derek Hagen, Leila Benn
Harris, Ed Hughes, Corey Johnson, Jason Langley, Antonio Magro, Sara Stewart
and Ewan Wardrop.
Corey Johnson’s stage credits include The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Almeida), A
Prayer For My Daughter (Young Vic), Frost/Nixon (Donmar/West End/Broadway),
Popcorn (West End) and Death of a Salesman (NT). He was nominated for the TMA
Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Eddie Carbone in A View From the Bridge
(Birmingham Rep). His film and television credits include Kickass, The Bourne
Ultimatum, United 93, Band of Brothers and The Mummy.
Paul Chahidi’s many theatre credits include Nation (NT), Aunt Dan and Lemon
(Royal Court), Female of the Species (West End), The Cherry Orchard (Chichester
Festival Theatre), Rhinoceros (Royal Court), The Merry Wives of Windsor, The
American Pilot, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and As You Like It (all RSC). On the big
and small screen his credits include Venus, The Libertine, Notting Hill, Fear of Fanny,
Ladies of Letters and Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story
Sara Stewart’s most recent stage appearance was Serious Money (Birmingham
Rep), while she is also on series regular on The Take (Sky TV). She also played
Martha Wayne, Batman’s mother, in the recent feature film Batman Begins. Her other
stage credits include Where There’s A Will (English Touring Theatre), The Hour We
Knew Nothing Of Each Other (NT), The Pain And The Itch (Royal Court), Proof
(Donmar) and A Month In The Country (RSC). On television, she has played guest
leads and series regulars in The Prisoner (LWT), Robin Hood (BBC TV), Sugar Rush
(Channel 4) and Life Begins.
Clive Francis made his West End debut opposite Donald Sinden in There’s A Girl In
My Soup, and his credits since include The Hypochondriac (English Touring
Theatre), A Christmas Carol (Guildford), The Dresser (Palace Theatre, Watford),
Never So Good (NT), and The Woman Hater (Orange Tree), while he is also a
regular on television screens.
The production is designed by Anthony Ward with music and sound by Adam Cork.
Lighting is by Mark Henderson, video and projection by Jon Driscoll and
choreography by Scott Ambler.
Enron appears at the Theatre Royal Newcastle from 2 - 6 November 2010 (Evenings:
7.30pm, Matinees: Thursday 2pm and Saturday 2.30pm). Tickets are £8.50 - £29.50
and can be purchased from the Theatre Royal Box Office on 08448 11 21 21 or
online at www.theatreroyal.co.uk
-ENDS-
For additional information / images / interview requests / press tickets etc, please
contact Marianne Quayle , Press & Communications Officer for the Theatre Royal on
0191 244 2518 or email marianne.quayle@theatreroyal.co.uk
NOTES TO EDITORS

Enron at the Broadhurst Theatre, New York was nominated for four Tony
Awards: Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre –
Adam Cork and Lucy Prebble; Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a
Play – Stephen Kunken; Best Lighting Design of a Play – Mark Henderson;
Best Sound Design of a Play – Adam Cork.

Headlong Theatre is dedicated to new ways of making theatre. By exploring
revolutionary writers and practitioners of the past and commissioning new
work from artists from a wide variety of backgrounds Headlong aim constantly
to push the imaginative boundaries of the stage. Under the Artistic
Directorship of Rupert Goold, Headlong makes exhilarating, provocative and
spectacular new work to take around the country and around the world. Work
includes King Lear with Pete Postlethwaite (Liverpool Everyman; Young Vic),
Six Characters in Search of an Author (Chichester Minerva; West End) and
The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Almeida).