Enron

Lucy Prebble

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9781408124673
• eBook ISBN: 9781408198384
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

'The only difference between me and the people judging me is they weren't smart enough to do what we did.' One of the most infamous scandals in financial history becomes a theatrical epic. At once a case study and an allegory, the play charts the notorious rise and fall of Enron and its founding partners Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, who became 'the most vilified figure from the financial scandal of the century.'
Mixing classical tragedy with savage comedy, Enron follows a group of flawed men and women in a narrative of greed and loss which reviews the tumultuous 1990s and casts a new light on the financial turmoil in which the world finds itself in 2009.
The play is Lucy Prebble's first work for the stage since her debut work The Sugar Syndrome, winner of the George Devine and Critic's Circle Awards for Most Promising New Playwright. Produced by Headlong, Enron premiered at Chichester's Minerva Theatre on 11 July 2009 and opened at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in September, before transferring to London's West End Jan - May 2010 and to Broadway April 2010.

Act One

Scene One

MARK-TO-MARKET PARTY – 1992

A party in a small office at Enron. Present are:

Employees drinking champagne.

Claudia Roe, a very attractive blonde woman of forty in a short skirt, enters. As she does, she brings the party with her. She sticks close to the most powerful man in the room:

Ken Lay, an easy, short, convivial man in his sixties, greeting and acknowledging every employee with practised southern hospitality.

Andy Fastow, a nervy, lupine guy in his thirties, is circling, with an unsettling grin.

Fastow is on the outskirts of the group of employees, ingratiating himself.

Roe and Lay sweep around the room.

Employee (to Roe) I loved your speech, by the way.

Employee 2 Really great speech.

Roe Oh, thank you so much.

Fastow Quite a party.

Employee I beg your pardon?

Lay (How you doing. Good to see you.)

Fastow (one eye on Lay) Just. It’s great news. About mark-to-market.

Employee 2 Oh the accounting system.

Employee We just came down for the champagne.

Elsewhere:

Roe Should we expect a speech from you, sir?

Lay No, Claudia, I don’t think we need ourselves another speech right now. Informality. Colleagues enjoying themselves.

Back at the group Fastow is trying to break into:

Fastow Look, even Ken Lay’s here.

Employee Yeah.

Fastow You think he plays golf ?

Employee I don’t know(!)

Lay magnanimously greets another couple of starstruck employees.

Fastow Where’s the guy who put this thing together?

Employee 2 What do you mean?

Fastow Jeff Skilling.

Employee Never heard of him.

Fastow The mark-to-market guy.

Employee 2 No idea.

Fastow Maybe he’s not a big party guy.

Employee Maybe you’d get along(!)

Fastow Actually I always thought we would.

Lay Have I met the mark-to-market guy?

Roe Jeff Skilling. I don’t know where he is.

Lay I’ve only got a half hour here. Make sure I shake his hand.

Outside the party, Skilling straightens his suit, his hair. He’s a bespectacled, overweight, balding accountant. He takes a deep breath.

Skilling enters the party and finds himself a drink for confidence.

Fastow You can’t get Lay away from Claws there. It’s like she’s his carer.

Employee Why don’t you go talk to him?

Fastow Yeah. You think I should?

Employee I think you should.

Fastow He’s just a guy, I’m a guy.

Beat.

Fastow Yeah. This is how things happen.

Employee You go, girl(!)

Roe (noticing Skilling) There he is.

She goes over to collect Skilling.

Fastow strides over to introduce himself to Lay.

Roe Jeff, come over. Ken Lay.

Skilling ‘Hi, how are you?’

Roe (sarcastic) ‘Hi, how are you.’ Ken Lay.

Fastow Hi there, Mr Lay.

Lay You’re not Jeff Skilling, / by any chance –

Fastow No sir, I wish I was, I’m Andy –

Lay Andy, Andy Fastow.

Fastow Yes sir!

Lay I make a point of knowing people, son.

Roe drags Skilling over to Lay.

Roe Ken –

Lay slaps Skilling on the back.

Lay Here’s the guy! Jeffrey ‘mark-to-market’ Skilling. You know Claudia. Our star abroad.

Skilling I believe I may have seen her in Vogue.

Roe That was cropped from a profile in Forbes.

Skilling I’m surprised you find the time.

Roe I’m surprised you read Vogue.

Lay One of the fifty most powerful women, wasn’t it?

Roe I don’t recall.

Skilling Most powerful women?

Roe Number fourteen.

Skilling I remember. There was a great bit on Oprah and her dogs.

Roe We were talking mark-to-market. .

Skilling I think one of her dogs was at number twelve.

Fastow I just wanted to say congratulations – mark-to-market, much more appropriate, much more transparent. Exactly the right thing.

Skilling Thanks. Are you –

Fastow Sorry. Andy, Andy Fastow, you hired me –

Roe This new accounting system, Jeff, you think it’s worth celebrating?

Skilling Well, don’t you?

Roe I’m not an accountant.

Lay You settled for fourteenth most powerful woman in the world.

Fastow Mark-to-market is the accounting system for all the big investment banks / on Wall Street.

Roe / Yes. But we are a gas and oil company.

Fastow No, you see –

Skilling We’re an energy company. You say ‘gas and oil’ people think … farts and Arabs.

Lay (gesturing to staff ) I’ve been explaining mark-to-market, people get all tied up in knots.

Skilling Seriously?

Lay In what sense?

Skilling There are people at this party who don’t understand the idea?

Fastow Mark-to-market lets us show the future / profits / –

Lay / We know.

Skilling / I know.

Skilling My people have worked their asses off to get the SEC to understand and approve this –

Roe And it’s very much appreciated.

Skilling Everyone gets mark-to-market here, right?

Fastow exhales and glances at the group of employees who had teased him.

Fastow I’ve talked to some people, I don’t know …

Skilling I’ve got slides I can bring down.

Roe No.

Skilling It doesn’t kill you? Everyone standing around celebrating their ignorance –

Roe It’s not a celebration of ignorance, Jeff, it’s a party.

Skilling These people are getting paid.

He takes Fastow’s glass and clinks it to get everyone’s attention. It’s a surprise – any speech would be deemed to be Lay’s job.

Skilling Hi. Hi. Everybody. For those who don’t know, I’m the reason you’re here. I said I would only join this company if we started to use mark-to-market. What does that mean? Anybody? Well, it’s a way for us to realise the profits we’re gonna make now. If you have an idea, if you sign a deal, say that we’re gonna provide someone with a supply of champagne for the next few years at a set price, every month, whatever – Then that definite future income can be valued, at market prices today, and written down as earnings the moment the deal is signed. We don’t have to wait for the grapes to be grown and squashed and … however the hell you make champagne. The market will recognise your idea and your profit in that moment. An...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Author’s Note
• Dedication
• Prologue
• Act One
• Act Two
• Act Three
• Imprint