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Run – Theatre

Four interns start new jobs at an unnamed investment bank. They work long, hard and crazy hours, perhaps too long and too hard as one of the interns dies from exhaustion.

Run, now playing (up until Saturday) at the New Diorama Theatre in Regents Place, is based on the true story of 21 year-old Moritz Erhardt from Germany. He was interning at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and worked 72 hours straight, and was found dead in the shower at his Bethnal Green flat.

Playing the four interns in the bare bones production of Run are Al Jarrett, whose character got the internship because his uncle works at the bank; Joseph Sentance plays a smart recent Cambridge graduate new to London; Beatrice Scirocchi’s character is a cold backstabber from Bosnia who will stop at nothing to get ahead; and Charlotte Watson plays a prim and proper professional, yet haunted by the death of her younger brother years ago from a heart murmur.

The four interns are thrown into an office environment, an environment that is new to them. Some of them thrive, while one of them makes an almost career-ending mistake, yet they are all interning for the same reason – to get a permanent job at the bank, and they will do whatever it takes to get the job done. In Watson’s character’s case, she looks like she will be the one who will outshine the others, but when she starts taking pills to stay awake, she literally (and figuratively) runs herself into the ground, extremely exhausted, yet she still goes back to work on very little sleep. And ultimately, ending with tragic consequences.

Run is all about the story, and the acting. And wow – all four actors are excellent. Jarrett gives an impassioned speech when he’s reprimanded by his boss – it’s a speech that will leave you breathless. Scirocchi is cold as ice because she wants a job very bad and will even turn on her fellow interns to get what she wants. Sentance is perfect in his role – he’s a natural on the small stage, and no doubt he’s bound for bigger and better things. Yet it’s Watson’s performance you will remember hours and perhaps days after you see the show. She literally runs herself down right before our very eyes, she’s tired and she knows and feels it, yet she still works far into the night, at her desk, typing away, eyes glossed.

Run is an incredible piece of work in a very tiny theatre. Kudos to the Engineer Theatre Collective who actually spoke to many people working and/or interning in the financial sector to put this show together. It’s an exhilarating piece of work, stripped right from today’s headlines. Drop your plans for tonight or Saturday and go see this show.

Tickets can be bought at:
http://newdiorama.com/whats-on/run