City News

As the world financial markets crumble, Birmingham Repertory Theatre will present a major revival of Serious Money, Caryl Churchill’s prescient satirical play about Eighties City greed.

One of the iconic plays of the Twentieth Century, Serious Money, takes a wry look at the ruthless world of corporate finance. Premiered in 1987, as the financial world came tumbling down, the play was written by Churchill following research at the London Stock Exchange.

Full of satire and humour, Churchill’s play conveys the hectic excitement of financial – and moral – risk, bringing to life the swaggering, foul-mouthed Yuppies of the 80s.

Serious Money is set in the heart of the City just after the Big Bang. The square mile has been invaded by white knights and corporate raiders. At the centre of the square mile is hot-shot trader Billy Corman, whose latest deal is to take over the unsuspecting company, Albion, aided and abetted by the new breed of yuppie traders and oiks with their junk bonds and greenmail. But their plans go awry when trader Jake Todd is found dead and the Department of Trade and Industry investigates.

Directed by Jonathan Munby, the play comes at a time when Britain’s financial crisis continues to dominate the headlines. But for Jonathan, the play has just as much to say second time around:

“This is such an important and timely revival. It’s over two decades since Serious Money debuted on the British stage, but its subject matter is just as relevant now as it was then and it’s rare that a revival of a play speaks so directly of our times.
“The play exposes the reckless gambling within the financial industry, which we are all now reaping the cost of yet again. In the play Caryl describes the reasons why we are in this mess and it shows how little changes and how painful lessons are ignored at our peril.”
 
A major force in British Theatre, Caryl Churchill is one of the greatest and most celebrated playwrights of her generation. Her most recent work includes Seven Jewish Children, a 10 minute history of Israel, written for the Royal Court. Other plays include Top Girls, Cloud Nine and A Number.

Jonathan Munby has just directed White Devil at the Menier Chocolate Factory and The Dog In The Manger for Washington DC’s Shakespeare Theatre Company. His other recent productions include the 24 Hour Plays Celebrity Gala at The Old Vic, A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Globe Theatre, She Stoops To Conquer at Birmingham Repertory Theatre and Don Giovanni for English Touring Opera.

The cast for Serious Money will be led by Lex Shrapnel as Billy Corman. Lex can currently be seen in the remake of Minder as Jamie Cartwright (minder to Shane Ritchie’s Archie Daley). His theatre credits include The Histories (RSC) and Calixto Bieito’s Hamlet (Birmingham Repertory Theatre). Film credits include Flyboys, Minotaur and Thunderbirds.

He will be joined by Wil Johnson as Durkfield. Will has played alongside Robbie Coltrane as a DC in Cracker and has since progressed to popular roles in Baby Father, Clocking Off and Buried Treasure, as well as the International Emmy Award Winning Drama Series, Waking The Dead. His theatre credits include Othello (Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh) and A Mad World My Master (Shakespeare’s Globe).

The cast is completed with Kirsty Bushell as trader Scilla Todd, Pandora Colin as Jacinta
Condor, Joseph May as Zackerman, Sara Stewart as Marylou Baines, Andrew Woodall as Greville Todd and Rufus Wright as Jake Todd.
Design for Serious Money will be by Paul Wills, with lighting by Ben Ormerod, projection and video design by Finn Ross and sound by Dan Hoole. It will include songs by Ian Drury with additional music by Dominic Haslam.