Roy Williams analyses the society in this particular Category B prison with shifts in the power base for both prisoners and warders. When visiting prisons Williams was struck by the almost fatherly approach of some of the warders to the prisoners. His play looks at the interrelating power structures within the men and the prison officers in this community which is also a prison.
Enron is about the creative accounting adopted by the Texan energy giant to disguise their losses and debts that gives creativity a bad name. The bubble burst and down tumbled two giants, Enron and accountants Arthur Andersen, as well as many Enron employees who lost not only their jobs but all their capital after using it to purchase the company's shares.So how do we turn the tedium of financial balance sheets and stock market registers into living theatre? With innovative skill, that's how!
Over the past fifteen years, Northern Broadsides have quietly carved out an impressive reputation for earthy, grounded productions which feature clarity, energy and very often Northern accents. Their approach is not only no nonsense, but also forbids frippery, clutter and theatrical snobbery. It was therefore quite surprising that they chose a celebrity comedian, who had never acted on stage before and whose opinion of the bard was largely a leftover of schoolboy antipathy, to tackle one of Shakespeare's great tragic heroes. However, unconstrained by thoughts of elitism, they elected Lenny Henry, the well-loved and self-styled "Jamaican from Dudley" to metamorphose himself into the Moor of Venice.