Continuous Growth

• Andrew Latimer
• 7 August 2012

This article is from 2012.

Insightful show confronting the human consequences of Icarus-style banking

It’s ironic that a show which mocks our endless need for growth has itself undergone much transformation. Relocated from Finland to Scotland by the creative mind of Catherine Grosvenor, director Aleksis Meaney leads an epic and apposite voyage into the capitalist world of kamikaze investment.

Continuous Growth is more than a comedy about productivity, it’s about the paradox of expansion; for each innovation, the bar is lowered as profiteering usurps creativity. Industrial pacesetter Andy Axelgrinder (Billy Mack) knows this all too well. But how much is too much? He chases the dream of a detached house in Bearsden (with his own shed) and soon loses sight of the family ties that save him from burning out.

This is funny, intelligent and valuable theatre confronting the human consequences of Icarus-style banking while schooling us on the difficulties of market economics. Some jokes about CDOs are a bit outdated and the show dwells on the ideas of borrowing and lending, but its parody is insightful and thoroughly rewarding.

Pleasance Dome, 556 6550, until 27 Aug (not 13, 20), 12.10pm, £10--£11 (£9--£10).