Hampstead Theatre
Eton Avenue,
Swiss Cottage,
London, NW3 3EU
Rick runs a private equity firm. The play begins with him caught in the middle of a publicity nightmare since his firm forced massive layoffs at a supermarket chain at the same time as he was celebrating a lavish engagement party, which even had a live elephant.
His two partners Seth and Jenny have completely differing views on how to salvage their reputation. Seth has brokered an opportunity to buy a firm called Landmark Luggage. Seth believes they need to do something to develop the firm and improve its market share, increase jobs within the country and which will bring them positive publicity to outweigh the negative, but Jenny is all about maximising returns, by any means necessary.
The title Dry Powder refers to marketable securities that are highly liquid and considered cash-like.
The set was different. The mirrors in the backdrop reflected the audience, very unique.
I originally bought the tickets blindly as a chance to watch Tom Riley (whom we loved in Da Vinci's Demons) and Hayley Atwell (who we admired in Conviction much more than in her role as Agent Peggy Carter - but then I also think that Captain America and Agent Peggy Carter are the weakest superheroes in the Marvel universe) live.
It was a thrill to watch them live and Hayley Atwell's performance as Jenny was brilliant. While it would be easy to turn Jenny into an evil caricature hellbent on profit at any cost, Atwell humanised her as a mathematical genius, albeit one for whom the human cost (jobs, emotions, families) is irrelevant to any calculations. In fact, it is Riley's Seth who ends up looking naive in the end, especially given Joseph Balderrama as Jeff's about face in the end.
Dry Powder has plenty of moments that make you laugh and others that make you think. We quite enjoyed Sarah Burgess script. I can't remember the last time we watched a play which felt like a dramatised version of office life. This hedge fund drama is a good peek into the life of private finance. Anyone who is fairly aware of financial markets would enjoy this performance. There are a lot of technical terms bandied about and if numbers and finance make your head spin, then you would lose out on a lot of the dialogue.
Given that the Hampstead Theatre is a newer theatre, the seats are all comfortable and have a good view of the stage. No pillars in the middle of seating to create one of those dreaded "restricted view" spots.
Edited to Add : Dry Powder has been nominated for Best New Comedy at the 2018 Olivier Awards
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