And the Messiah came forth to the boozy office party

In today's rehearsal we started with the first scene; the office party. Before we started actively devising we needed to establish what an office party at Enron would be like; formal or informal? Classy or dirty? Polite or trashy? My answer would be both, entirely both. I believe that Enron was allowed to run for as long as it did because it had two natures, both completely true and both officially recognised. It had its lighter side; the side presented to the general public and investors formally, installing them as a secure, believable and profitable company. And their darker side; the side shown more in the play, the one that got them their reputation for partying and crazy antics (mostly of the books) and essentially the one that stained their other half. Enron were both. Perhaps the problem is you can't be both, you can't have everything. And yet at the start, Enron did have everything, so the start of the play can reflect this duality when it worked at its best.

Physicalizing this scene did not come as a surprise as we all expected much of the ensemble parts of the play to be in that style; plus I believe Enron's physical style was a reason why many people were attracted to it and so we were all keen to start working in this way. To start off our devising we were introduced to something called push hands. This consists of the hand, fingers and wrist being the only physical point of contact between two people. We experimented with movement across the space and the interaction with our partners whilst maintaining this point of contact. We then layered this with the context of an office party introducing a key component of that sort of event; drink. We started to give our experimentation purpose, finding ways to drink our own or our partners drink whilst keeping our hands attached. What I found with this exercise was that our movement became very ritualistic with the sharing of drinks being a sacred act which made us all commit both with our partners and with the whole group. This created a place in which drinking and partying were a core component of our lives, thus tapping into a key part of the Enron lifestyle. Taking something considered casual and impersonal and giving it platform to which we all turn and worship creates this feeling of Enron as a cult which added a dynamic layer to our work. 

We then created a secret handshake sequence in pairs which reflected the authoritative almost elitist feel of the him hands exercise with the whole ensemble taking pride and joy in the fact that no one but their partner knew the sequence. This pompous vibe is created by the people at the party feeling like they are part of the club. Having the confidence in our performance and movement will heighten this because if we believe that we are somehow special with the piece being completely about the personal involvement with the others in the room, almost ignoring the audience and Fastow with anyone who is not an insider being immediately cast out setting up this company as a ruling factor of the 1990s social scene. Now one else could compete because no one else knew how, in the same way no one could join this movement piece because they wouldn't be admitted by the general ensemble.

My favourite part of today's rehearsal was blocking the entrance of Roe and Lay simply because I was given power and could exercise it as I pleased, a prospect which seemed to speak to Claudia in me. If the ensemble is a cult, Roe and Lay enter as their leader or as their Messiah. We created two lines of people so myself and Tatenda could walk in the middle. Having the power to ignore or engage, to touch or deny, was intoxicating and strangely enjoyable. You know the effect you can have on someone and yet it is your choice whether to engage it that persons life. We then added in water bottles to fit with the style of the opening. Myself and Tatenda were able to choose whether to drink someones water or not. The most memorable moment of this exercise was leaning down to someones water as if to drink it but then just simply kissing the top of the bottle. Reflecting on it it all seems a little strange but in that moment two people become magnets; either fully connected or one repelling the other. I think this exercise has given one of the first real insights into the adoration the world had for Roe. She has so much power and responsibility and it is that exact thing that allows her to be so careless and cut throat with her peers. Its cruel... and I loved it.