How a Play About a Bank Explains the Post-Financial Crisis World

Backstage at London’s National Theatre, playwright Ben Power is grappling with the meaning of Donald Trump’s victory in the US election, and the landslide Labour election win in the UK.

“In 100 years, when we look at this period, we are still in the post-crash, post-Lehman bankruptcy moment,” says Power. That period, he says, is a kind of “origin story for everything that has happened since,” from Occupy Wall Street, to rising inequality, polarized politics, austerity policies in the UK, Brexit, disillusionment with experts and leaders, and the re-election of Trump.