Book description
On 15 September 2008, capitalism came to a grinding halt. As
sub-prime mortgages and toxic securities continued to dominate the
headlines well into 2009, this spring the National Theatre asked David
Hare to write an urgent and immediate work to be staged this autumn
that sought to find out what had happened, and why. Capitalism works
when greed and fear are in the correct balance. This time they got out
of balance. Too much greed, not enough fear. Meeting with many of the
key players from the financial world, David Hare, author of The
Permanent Way and Stuff Happens, has created The Power of Yes: a
compelling narrative, as enlightening as it is entertaining. It's like
a ship which you're being told is in apple-pie order, the decks are
cleaned, the metal is burnished, the only thing nobody mentions, it's
being driven at full speed towards an iceberg. Not so much a play as a
jaw-dropping account of how, as the banks went bust, capitalism was
replaced by a socialism that bailed out the rich alone. The Power of
Yes opened at the National Theatre, London, in September 2009.
David Hare is one of Britain's most internationally performed
playwrights. He was born in Sussex in 1947. Thirteen of his plays have
been presented at the National heatre, including a trilogy about the
Church, the Law and the Labour Party - Racing Demon, Murmuring Judges
and The Absence of War - which was presented in repertory in the Olivier
Theatre in 1993. Ten of his best-known plays, including Plenty, The
Secret Rapture, Skylight, The Blue Room, Amy's View, The Judas Kiss, Via
Dolorosa - in which he performed - and The Vertical Hour have also been
presented on Broadway.
