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Make It Happen

 
Mark Harding Review by Mark Harding 4 Published: 5 Aug 2025 Festival Theatre Show Dates: 30 Jul 2025-9 Aug 2025

Scotland needs – is owed – a significant play about the fall of RBS. Seventeen years later, has James Graham written it?

You were given freedom – look what you have done with it

It’s a brilliant script with terrific design, endless great jokes, and the cast is acting at the top level (Sandy Grierson as Fred Goodwin is astonishingly good in a difficult, wide-ranging role). Graham hasn't held back on ambition – Greek tragedy is referenced, and hubris and the Furies are recurring motifs. He brings research to life on stage, capturing Edinburgh's obsession with dualism: two cities, one chaotic and hidden underground, the other elegantly ordered in the light of the Enlightenment. Recurring motifs include ‘Edinburgh’s Disgrace’ on Calton Hill and the vital importance of John Lewis. Even Fingers Piano Bar gets a mention. Brian Cox, in a role as a balloon-puncturing National Treasure, gives an interesting additional perspective.

The vox pop has mixed views on the first half. While undoubtedly entertaining, there are accusations of meandering and irrelevant characters. I would defend this section: it captures historic ‘steady as she goes’ attitudes under attack by ‘move fast and break things’ businessmen. The first half introduces cast members breaking into period pop songs, used throughout. This cheerful Hollywood musical tone illustrates the spell of short-sighted optimism that whole companies fall under – while the audience knows what happens next.

Graham is meticulously fair. As success builds, Goodwin moves from unpleasant to gangsterish bully, yet he’s not the sole villain: his managers follow his lead, shareholders allow unrestrained power, and Graham shows all banks were equally bad – they just weren’t as big.

The politicians fare well: Darling is eminently sensible; Brown appears as a thinking heir to the Enlightenment, unlucky to be PM at Labour's fag-end but fulfilling his destiny in coordinating the European response to the crisis.

The play highlights the discrepancy between the Enlightenment's broad, deep thinkers and business leaders' shallowness. We get the usual witless justifications. Goodwin calls NatWest’s art collection degenerate, while his private jet ‘inspires confidence.’ A key exchange: Brown says, “You were given freedom – look what you have done with it.” Goodwin’s defence: “If not me, it would have been somebody else.” True – but muggers might say that too. And we put muggers in jail.

The conclusion of the banking crisis movie The Big Short takes a historical perspective, challenging audiences on allowing systems to continue unchanged. In contrast, Graham’s play is an entertaining documentary on a limited historical period that doesn’t explore the wider implications. We learn nothing new. We aren't challenged to examine our own role, as Big Tech ushers in the next revolution.

So, no – we still don’t have the play on the fall of RBS that we are owed.

Amir Nisi

Mark Harding

Mark has reviewed books, film, drama, dance and opera for multiple publications. His stories have been published in various magazines. He lives in Edinburgh.

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The Blurb:

WORLD PREMIERE

Brian Cox stars in this biting satire on the Scottish banking ambition that shattered the global economy.

Behold the rise, fall and fail of the biggest bank in the world – The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

At the helm is Fred 'The Shred' Goodwin, armed with an unshakeable belief in the wisdom of the ‘founder of modern capitalism’, Adam Smith. The once prudent RBS soars and then plummets, placing Scotland at the heart of the global financial crash of 2008.

Set in Edinburgh, Make It Happen sees legendary actor Brian Cox return to the Scottish stage for the first time in a decade as Adam Smith, the ghost of fiscal past. Following his outstanding portrayal of the title character in Lanark at the International Festival, Sandy Grierson takes on the role of Goodwin. Written by James Graham (Sherwood, Dear England), hailed as one of the most influential and finger-on-the-pulse writers of our time, and directed by the award-winning Andrew Panton, this epic new satire delves into the unchecked growth, spiralling greed and nail-biting hubris that brought the world’s economy to its knees.

Take your seat for this unmissable drama; decadence, world-domination and a dizzying descent await.

This is a fictionalised satire, featuring a mixture of characters and incidents inspired by real-life events, with others entirely imagined.

Listen on Soundcloud or Spotify.

Supported by Sir Ewan and Lady Brown

This is a fictionalised satire, featuring  a mixture of characters and incidents  inspired by real-life events, with others  entirely imagined.

A keepsake freesheet is available at the venue for this performance.

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