Greed, dishonesty on display in production of acclaimed play Enron

The production opens Thursday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. and runs again on Friday, Dec. 2 at 4 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. in the David Chu Theatre. Tickets are available in the Student Centre. Due to its mature themes and coarse language, Enron is for audiences in Year 10 and older. 

Director Ms. Anna Blagona: Enron is a modern morality play. It’s a true story, too; a lot of the conversations are taken directly from recordings. 

This is the same human narrative as plays like Antigone or Macbeth. Like the classics, it studies what happens when humans lose their sense of honour and get too greedy. The beauty of Enron is that it happened 15 years ago, just south of the border.

Through choosing the literature we teach, we try to show students the truth about the world without making any judgments. We hope they will, in turn, make better decisions.

Ms. Blagona: That’s true, but they know about Enron because their parents knew about it. It changed the way business was done; some of these things are now standard practice.

Young people are idealistic and they assume adults always try to do the right thing. Here, they don’t. However, there are lots of business models that are now much more moral, humane and fair. Business doesn’t have to be something that hurts, exploits and damages.

Ms. Blagona: It’s great, and it’s interesting to see that the students have forgotten how hard it is! The play is two hours long and the lead character is on the stage the whole time. The actors need to remember the technique of where to breathe and the arc of each scene. We’ve been talking about these things in theatre class for the last three years and now they get to use them.

 

It’s also an ensemble piece and it’s so much fun to see them together telling a story. It’s an essential human activity. They’re a team and they worked hard. The play has a message and they are invested in it. It’s such a privilege to tell a story that makes people think.

 

Co-curricular Theatre Coordinator Mr. Julian Bauld: [Upper School teacher] Terry Denstedt built the set and he always does a great job. This year he sourced some materials and constructed a scrim that is a really effective element on an otherwise spare set. Ms. Blagona's use of space is intimate and she decided to shrink the theatre to just over 60 seats a night, creating an atmosphere that matches the tight conditions the characters experience in the play.