NOEL COWARD THEATRE

Arriving at the Noel Coward Theatre I was somewhat oblivious to the scale and complexity of the Enron scandal and its implications. However, mindful of my lack of pre show knowledge I hoped that my lawyer pal might provide some insight during interval.

Although the play was commissioned before the recession hit, the story's depiction of money as a commodity with a knack of vanishing into thin air has uncanny parallels with the present. When Enron failed, it claimed assets of just over $63 billion. The magnitude of recent financial disasters such as the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers holding does make Enron look rather quaint. The collapse of the American energy company was only a prelude to the current market meltdown, making Prebble's production a rather arresting and powerful dramatic metaphor.

Rupert Goold has inventively transported (and slightly transformed) the world of high finance to stage. Song and dance numbers, video projections, and vivid caricature are ingeniously woven into the production. The multitude of effects should in theory be disastrous but in practice they work and generate an exuberant and dazzling piece.

There is an excess of visual metaphors - some at risk of being slightly over the top. Goold's playful and witty directorial approach makes the production highly entertaining and comprehensible. I particularly like the portrayal of the Lehman brothers as a pair of Siamese twins in a single overcoat.

Samuel West gives a superb performance as chief executive officer Jeff Skilling. All cast members delivered top notch and polished performances.

The everlasting appeal that keeps most West End shows on stage is the provision of a memorable means of escapism from the everyday world and more recently the ominous doom and gloom. And although the production is inevitably a condensed depiction of one of the defining events in the last decade, in essence what they are talking about is real and incredibly tangible. I certainly left the Noel Coward Theatre feeling enlightened.