An elderly Edinburgh woman filing her way into the Festival Theatre is describing Fred Goodwin as “Scotland’s Gordon Gekko” referring to the vile character played by Michael Douglas in Oliver Stone’s Wall Street (1987). Sandy Grierson is excellent as Fred Goodwin, drawing on the banking villain’s Paisley roots. Ferguslie Park was once considered one of the worst housing estates in Europe but it produced notable musician Gerry Rafferty and artist/playwright John Byrne. It’s less talked about now that it also produced Fred ‘the shred’ Goodwin. Grierson plays him as a ruthless and undesirable character, a banking gangster who soon finds his moll played by Hannah Donaldson. As CEO of The Royal Bank of Scotland, a 300-year-old institution, his desire is for destructive expansion as jobs collapse and people are fired at will. He only pauses to discuss his motives with philosopher and economist Adam Smith. Brian Cox plays the character for laughs and he resembles the Ghost of Christmas Present from the Charles Dickens classic novel A Christmas Carol.

The dialogue between them is sharp and thought-provoking, it becomes clear that Smith is disgusted at Goodwin’s interpretation of his writings and decides he is clearly an “idiot”. What fares less well is popular hit records from the past being performed for laughs. It doesn’t really work and only interrupts the flow of the narrative. This 2-hour 40-minute show including an interval at times feels like a long shift. But that said it’s an ambitious production by the National Theatre of Scotland and Dundee Rep. Writer James Graham and director Andrew Panton mostly hit the target when unearthing a man who thought he was untouchable. Make It Happen drills deep into his hellish legacy. Perhaps the most sinister moment is when Ann Louise Ross, as a retired teacher and shareholder, returns like another supernatural being during Goodwin’s downfall and casts a deadly and sinister breath over him like a spell.  The shame continues with a stripped Knighthood and the leftovers of his time such as the RBS banking headquarters in Gogarburn known widely today as Fred’s Folly. It does leave you wondering what kind of society we have created when it’s revealed that Goodwin won’t go to prison because he didn’t technically commit a crime. We are left with more questions than answers. How many lives were affected by Goodwin’s megalomania and how much do his actions still affect the way we live today?

Reviewed by Richard Purden.

Four Stars.

For more information about Make it Happen please use the link below.

https://www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/events/make-it-happen