Enron
| Enron | |
|---|---|
| |
| Summary | |
| Dates April-May 2020
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| Performance Course Acting
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| Location Virtual
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| Creative Team | |
| Director Becky Hope-Palmer
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| Designer | |
| Sound Designer | |
| Lighting Designer | |
| Production Team | |
| Production Manager Colin Bell
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| Stage Manager | |
| Deputy Stage Manager | |
| Assistant Stage Managers | |
Summary
Due to the outbreak of covid-19 all performances were suspended. ENRON was reimagined as a virtual production.
In 2001, energy trading company Enron became the subject of a massive fraud and corruption scandal, with its chief operating officer, Jeffrey Skilling, at the centre of the $63 billion collapse.
Lucy Prebble’s 2009 play is a modern tragedy about the quest for power of big companies around the world, and the Macbeth-like betrayals as powerful men at the top of the food chain drag each other down during their kingdom's demise.
Enron is a perfect example of how to turn a story about business into a theatrical spectacle to match the company's spectacular collapse.
Company
Jeffery Skilling - Tom Zachar
Andy Fastow - Yingxue Zhang
Ken Lay - Ian Sawan
Claudia Roe - Rebecca Gunn
Skilling's Daughter / Trader / Hewitt / Lehman Brother / Prostitute / Reporter - McCallister Selva
Arthur Andersen / Irene Grant / Trader / Raptor / Analyst - Charlie O'Connor
Ramsay / Analyst / Trader / Raptor / Police Officer - Jack McCreadie
Lawyer / Sheryl Solomon / Congresswoman - Lesley Lemon
Board Member / Trader / Security Officer / Lehman Brother / Lawyer - Sam Stopford
Board Member / Trader / Raptor / JP Morgan / Senator - Shyvonne Ahmmad
Lighting
Sound
Technical Stage Department
Enron's technical challenges consisted of the TV centre cluster, the light box, and the sliding walls.
TV Centre Cluster
The TV centre cluster was to be made from steel. It would have consisted of three trapezoid frames at a 30 degree angle with three L braces per frame. The centre L brace would have the TV's own wall mount bolted into it, attaching the TV to the clustre. Four pick up points of flying irons would be placed on the remaining L brackets and hang off 1500MM drifts from cross bars above. A drop bar with a projector would hang in the middle of the cluster.
Light Box
The light box would have been primarily made from timber in four sections bolted together. Strategically placed flying irons on the inside of the box would have suspended the box from cross bars overhead. As it was made from timber, the box would have been fairly heavy (approx. 165KG). Having been bolted together on the ground, the box would been hauled out using four pulleys. This one to one system would only be used provided those doing the lift had previously told the stage supervisor they were confident in the lift. Split between four points, the weight being hauled by each person would have been approximately 60KG. If this were not advisable, a 2:1 pulley system would be used to haul the box out. With 2000MM drifts and shackles already in place, the box would have been lifted and then immediately secured to rigging by four more individuals. The scaff bar structural integrity is sufficient enough to take the point load of the four points the box would hang from. This has been calculated using...
Sliding Walls
Four sets of sliding walls US were part of the design. Two runs of track housing two doors each would have been suspended from drop T bars and hook clamps. Using header, return and floor pulleys, the line would have been threaded through the scenery carriers and tied off so that the doors would close towards each other and open away from on another. Bespoke vertical blinds from Vertical Blinds Direct would have been ordered and come with it's own mechanism for opening and closing.
Further Considerations
The seating bank was in the round with a rise of 200MM and a capacity of 96. The front row of the audience would encroach on the playing space and considerations would have to be made for scenery movement and cast interaction.
A sacrificial floor would be used for scenery effect. In order to aid the travel of the sliding wall, the stage department requested that a groove be cut in this floor to guide the walls on their track movement SR/ SL.
Stage Management
The stage management department consisted of Stage Manager Lea Meloee, Deputy Stage Manager Hannah Henderson and Assistant Stage Manager Rory Gilmore.