More online and blog reviews have appeared today for Dry Powder at the Hampstead Theatre, with kind words for Tom Riley and the cast. Variety describes the play as timely.
Sarah Burgess's play is a fascinating and chilling picture of high finance at work, whose moral is that everyone at the top of the corporate ladder is a bastard and you can absolutely count on them to act like bastards...
...All this is fascinating, as we watch the kinds of argument and rationalisations used by people at least some of whom try to convince themselves they're human. And it is increasingly chilling as we watch them repeatedly fail in that endeavour...
...Tom Riley as the guy who found the deal, Aidan McArdle as his boss and Joseph Balderrama as the luggage man all skilfully keep us on edge with tantalising hints that there might be an actual human being in there somewhere... Theatre Guide London
But brilliant as Ms Atwell is it is not just about Jenny. Seth represents another bundle of personality traits. A charming self-assured salesmen who smoothly secures the trust of his clients. He comes to question the morality of Jenny’s management plan for Landmark, but only because he has “lost the game”. He is certainly not prepared to trade his status and back his own plan. Rick is immune to self-doubt his past success makes him think he is infallible. Aiden McArdle is all controlled, demanding aggression. It comes as no surprise that he will take capital from anyone to prop up his firm. Joseph Balerrama’s Jeff exudes a kind of fragile bonhomie but this, unsurprisingly, masks a ruthlessness that is revealed when his agency and price are tested. Blog
