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noam's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
i have quibbles about the play's cynicism, about its treatment of chen as a character, and about the on-the-nose ending, but ultimately i gotta give it up.
kimberly_levaco's review against another edition
informative
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
A high octane hybrid of Mamets Glengarry GlennRoss and Nottages Sweat that paints a bleak tale of the economic turning point of the 1980s
lan_string's review against another edition
4.0
Very Stuff Happens, big ensemble crazy administration he-said-she-said vibes. Really good! I wouldn't read it again necessarily because it was a lot to keep up with but a great marriage of art and economics. He talks about using art to understand out country's current relationship to debt and capital in the interview at the end. Everything he said was important and true, so I feel like a nihilist, but I just couldn't make myself care.
osman's review against another edition
4.0
Very 80s, felt like something out of succession with all the rich people backstabbing
808jake_'s review against another edition
3.0
A quick, breezy read that feels more like a blockbuster film than a play. Not too hard to understand if you (like me) know only the basics about credit card debt and junk bonds.
Ultimately about how our debts- literal, figurative, personal, national - will come for us one way or another. The author never falls on one side of the debate, leaving us to decide who the heroes and villains in this play are.
Ultimately about how our debts- literal, figurative, personal, national - will come for us one way or another. The author never falls on one side of the debate, leaving us to decide who the heroes and villains in this play are.
catdad77a45's review
3.0
Adesso: 'Nobody understands this shit. Nobody cares about it." p. 46
That about sums up this play. Although I have liked all of Akhtar's previous plays, this one has some built in complications, beginning with the subject matter, which, even though Akhtar does a heroic job of dumbing it down enough for even non-financial wizards to semi-get - it still is a bunch of scenes about people making financial deals. In that, it is like the movie 'The Big Short', which although well done, was not exactly riveting either.
The larger problem though, is that there are 18 named characters, and it is difficult, at least on the page, to remember who everyone is (Akhtar on two occasions resorts to saying something along the lines of 'Remember this is the same guy from 30 minutes ago who did...' in the stage directions). And although he goes to pains to offer rather detailed descriptions of who each character is in a listing of such before the play proper, NONE of them have much defining characteristics WITHIN the play...they are mere symbols to move around on his gigantic chessboard. Although it's more or less an ensemble piece, it also suffers from the main protagonist being the anti-hero (apparently modeled after Michael Milken), and the one 'good guy' (spoiler alert!), offing himself 2/3s of the way through the play. Reviews for the Broadway production have not been kind, and I can see why.
That about sums up this play. Although I have liked all of Akhtar's previous plays, this one has some built in complications, beginning with the subject matter, which, even though Akhtar does a heroic job of dumbing it down enough for even non-financial wizards to semi-get - it still is a bunch of scenes about people making financial deals. In that, it is like the movie 'The Big Short', which although well done, was not exactly riveting either.
The larger problem though, is that there are 18 named characters, and it is difficult, at least on the page, to remember who everyone is (Akhtar on two occasions resorts to saying something along the lines of 'Remember this is the same guy from 30 minutes ago who did...' in the stage directions). And although he goes to pains to offer rather detailed descriptions of who each character is in a listing of such before the play proper, NONE of them have much defining characteristics WITHIN the play...they are mere symbols to move around on his gigantic chessboard. Although it's more or less an ensemble piece, it also suffers from the main protagonist being the anti-hero (apparently modeled after Michael Milken), and the one 'good guy' (spoiler alert!), offing himself 2/3s of the way through the play. Reviews for the Broadway production have not been kind, and I can see why.
jesspages's review
2.0
Not my favorite, but that's only because I don't really like plays or the stock market lol
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