Banker wankers. We all know the stereotype. Sexist, arrogant, money-grabbing pricks who are out for themselves and themselves only. Economy of Thought is a play about a group of bankers who commit a morally dubious act (surprise surprise) and refuse to deal with the consequences (surely not?) For anyone who has seen Enron, Economy of Thought will be disappointing. Predictable and clichéd, it reinforces the classic notions of good and evil while adding nothing to the debate.
Amanda is a high flying executive at a prestigious city bank. When a public protest takes place outside the bank, she and her colleagues make a bet that goes disastrously wrong leading to a young protester becoming critically injured. The plot thickens when Amanda’s sister - conveniently a journalist - turns up to investigate the case, forcing Amanda to choose between her job and her sister. The play lacks any substantial emotional depth. The characters are one dimensional, never really breaking free from their goodie/baddie roles, rendering them almost impossible to relate to. Given the simplistic plot, one would hope the main character would be substantially layered but sadly Amanda is as underdeveloped as the rest.
Although the text itself is flawed the production is strong; the cast almost carries the piece. However, the actors struggled to carry their delivery of some of the lines across the space meaning it could become a struggle to attempt to keep up with the dialogue. The scene changes were slick and the direction good but as the play trundled along I found myself simply becoming bored, a sad fate for a play that markets itself as ‘explosive’. Economy of Thought is a rather dull, obvious piece of theatre about a subject that can be absolutely fascinating. Ditch the ticket - buy a copy of Lucy Prebble’s Enron instead.
