Enron

Things can spiral out of control in a second. But for the most part this doesn’t result in one of the world’s largest corporate bankruptcies and a 24-year jail sentence. But Jeffrey Skilling is an exception.

Set in Houston, Texas, the play follows the great rise and the catastrophic fall of Skilling’s (Corey Johnson) career at Enron, one of the leading energy companies of the 1990s. Through accounting loopholes and misinformed judgements he was responsible for hiding billions of dollars' worth of debt. But as much as he was the face of the disaster, it was his accomplice, Andy Fastow (Paul Chahidi) who was most definitely the brains.

Admittedly, this doesn’t sound like the most exciting or riveting setup for a large production. However, Rupert Goold’s direction transcends any expectation. Contrasting with the mundanity of business acronyms and jargon is the production's use of bizarre and surreal staging, to include ventriloquist's dummies, conjoined twins (Lehman Brothers), irate dinosaurs and a barbershop. It shouldn’t work on any level, but it does.

The pace and drive of the show is furthered even more by the use of choreographed interludes which pulse with intensity and create a rock 'n' roll aura around what it effectively an accountant's worst nightmare. It educates without being patronising and the audience is swept away by the theatricality of money. As well as its slick visual success, its performances also impress. Johnson’s portrayal is ambiguous and subtle, showing Skilling as poignantly flawed and delusional in his innocence. Chahidi’s performance mixes both comedy and tragedy in a perfect balance and proves with great intensity that what you wish for is never a direct actuality. Skilling admits early on that it's "money and sex which motivate people", and ultimately it’s these excesses which brings them to their fall, with greed and bad choices haunting them and America to this day.