Matt Herzfeld's new play, The Improbable Fall, Rise & Fall Of John Law (part 1) is an epic tale of early modern finance that spans decades and continents, and features a cast of some of 18th century Europe's most famous (and controversial) movers and shakers.
At its center is John Law, whom historians have alternately described as a financial genius or a treacherous con-man. The play, which takes the form of a bawdy and irreverent historical comedy, follows John from his early days as a notorious London gambler forced into exile by a duel gone wrong through his greatest insight the invention of paper currency to his reign as France's minister of finance, where he oversaw one of history's first boom-and-bust cycles in a stunning display of incompetence that both rivals recent Wall Street panics and sheds light on the frightening and darkly comic resemblances between our modern financial system and the rigged tavern games of chance where John Law gained and lost his first fortune. A diverse 8-actor ensemble will play more than 33 characters, bringing the turbulent world of John Law vibrantly to life with healthy doses of wit, absurdity and inventive theatricality.
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:
MONDAY & WEDNESDAY @ 7:30 PM
THURSDAY thru SATURDAY @ 8 PM
SUNDAY @ 5 PM
