We sat down with Matthew Jameson, the writer behind ‘We Own Everything’ about the company and their inspirations, his bucket list of stories and his understanding the first deliberate stock market crash …
As Heretical Historians, your production company focuses on telling humorous but true stories. What made you decide to focus on this?
I’d always had an interest in history, as long as I can remember I’ve enjoyed hunting out the bonkers little gems that are in the margins of ‘grand’ or ‘serious’ historical accounts. When I first thought of making a company, this was such a strong and endless seam to mine!
As a writer, the stories I found were so ridiculous and farcical that it seemed impossible to invent stories that matched them, so why not focus on dissecting the amazing events and making them resonate for a modern audience. As a director you have a level of distance from the events you comment on and a level of exploration of contemporary parallels, it stops the work from being totally reactionary to present events or circumstances and means that we can ultimately make wider points and have a lot more fun.
Above all else, it means we always have the most fun costumes to wear and the most fun toys to factor in.
What has been your favourite story you’ve unearthed?
My bucket list story is that of John Reed’s account Ten Days That Shook The World and The Russian Revolution. It has everything: power struggles, culture clashes, incredible stakes – enough drunken absurdity to have the audience in hysterics and the most profound consequences. But we’re waiting for the right time on that one…
A fun story is that of the ancient Persian ministers who used to have two stages of debate for all new policy and ideas: the first stage while sober and rational, and the second while hammered, to ensure that they always agreed from both perspectives. Seems like a fine alternative to the current politics of making horrific decisions while stone cold sober all the time…
This show is about the first deliberate stock market crash – how do you think audiences can relate to this in 2018?
It’s a far more modern story than we anticipated when we started. I’d argue these events marked the birth of a mindset that is still prevalent today; that corporations and individuals hold power and influence, not governments or nations. This show is an insight into the characters that are just as likely to be working in Canary Wharf today as they would in 80’s Wall Street.
I’d also challenge anyone to watch the antisemitism and xenophobia Nathan faced on his arrival and not pause for thought about the rife and rampant Islamophobia and racism in our own times… And the consequences that this marginalisation and alienation of outsiders can bring.
What do you want audiences to feel when watching this show?
It’s uncharted territory for us, in the sense that we don’t just want as many laughs as possible. We want to keep the humour and fun as a vehicle to tell a wider story, not to be our final objective.Our goal is for the audience to leave thinking and talking about what they saw.
We of course aim for an entertaining and engaging evening, which we’ve managed to balance with finding the truth to the personalities and times that they lived in. The show’s intent is creating a sense of the drama and the stakes of their times. We also want people to learn a bit about the markets and forces that govern us, with many of the bizarre facts I learnt researching this distilled for easy access, while providing a stark reminder about how little has changed since this market crash 200 years ago!
As a company – who are your inspirations?
There’s a lot of Brecht and epic theatre in there; big set pieces, cast of thousands. effective use of a minimal budget. Not to mention the whole ethos of the company comes from his idea of ‘historicisation’!
I jumped for joy when a previous review compared us to Patrick Barlow’s adaptation of The 39 Steps, my favourite play ever, which proved how easily and cheaply you can tell incredible, wide spanning stories with little more than 4 actors and minimum production value, while keeping that sense of ambition and imagination.
As a young company we admire the heck out of Mischief Theatre and Kill the Beast, because they show that young people are capable of making incredibly popular, enjoyable work that appeal to all.
While writing We Own Everything I was working on the James Graham play Ink, about the rise of The Sun newspaper and I can definitely see parallels with this story. Not least in trying to find sympathy and a fair hearing through theatre for a person that may have already been written off as a villain.
The play has number of outrageous characters, who is your favourite and why?
Most like to go for a pint with: Tommy Flynn [The Rothschild’s stockbroker played by Will Charlton], he’d be a good laugh but he’d skip his round.
Most like to go to a party with: The Prince Regent [Played by Lloyd McDonagh], he knows how to put on a good spread.
Most like to go on a cruise with: Daniel Bryner [The Rothschild’s accountant played by David Gurney], he’s just the nicest guy and not at all like the rest of the characters in this horrible, sordid world.
Favourite Character overall: Nathan Mayer Rothschild [Played by Jahmai Maasai], as no other character in any of our previous shows has forced me to suspend my judgement and be impartial in such a profound way.
We Own Everything is on 10 – 19 July