Samuel West has been cast in Lucy Prebble’s new play Enron, which opens at Chichester Festival Theatre in July before transferring to London’s Royal Court from 17 September.
West, who will play the role of Jeffrey Skilling in Chichester and the capital, has previously appeared at Chichester in Doctor Faustus, Cain and The Master And Margarita. The actor’s recent London stage credits include Betrayal and The Family Reunion at the Donmar Warehouse, while he previously played Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company. A former Artistic Director of Sheffield theatres, West is also an experienced director with credits in London including Dealer’s Choice at the Menier Chocolate Factory and Trafalgar Studios and Waste at the Almeida theatre.
Based on real life, Enron explores one of the most infamous scandals in financial history, reviewing the tumultuous 1990s and casting a new light on the financial turmoil in which the world finds itself today. Playwright Prebble was Laurence Olivier Award-nominated for her debut play, The Sugar Syndrome, which was also staged at the Royal Court, in 2003.
A co-production between Chichester Festival Theatre, Headlong theatre company and the Royal Court, Enron is directed by the Artistic Director of Headlong, Rupert Goold. The in-demand director has previously staged Macbeth and Six Characters In Search Of An Author in Chichester. Both productions transferred to the West End, with Macbeth winning him the Best Director Laurence Olivier Award in 2008. Goold’s other London directorial credits include the current production of Oliver! at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, King Lear at the Young Vic, No Man’s Land at the Duke of York’s and, for Headlong, The Last Days Of Judas Iscariot at the Almeida theatre and Faustus at Hampstead theatre.
Chichester Festival Theatre has a history of transferring productions to London. Both Calendar Girls and The Last Cigarette open in the West End this month after originating in Chichester.
Enron opens at the Royal Court’s Jerwood Theatre Downstairs on 22 September after previews from 17 September and plays until 31 October.
CB