The Invisible Hand

Our second contemporary, international and critical work is from American playwright Ayad Akhtar, who won a Pulitzer Prize for Disgraced. Set in an enclosed space, The Invisible Hand is a drama in which capitalism and faith, as well as violence and ethics, intersect.

It premiered as a one-act work in 2012, and was expanded with a second act for its off-Broadway premiere in 2014. It later went on to earn great acclaim in the UK and the US, winning the Obie Award for Playwriting and the John Gassner Playwriting Award in 2015, and being nominated for the Evening Standard Theatre Award in 2016 and the Laurence Olivier Award in 2017.

The story begins with Nick Bright , an American banker who has been kidnapped by a terrorist organisation in Pakistan, making the unexpected proposal to earn his own ransom money on the stock market. Bright's skills with money eventually bring the organisation a large sum, but along the way principles and faith are shaken. The story develops in a tense atmosphere as it shows how people are controlled by money and exposes human desires.

The title, The Invisible Hand, refers to the basic philosophy of capitalism from Adam Smith, the father of economics: that the individual rationally pursues his own profit, unintentionally bringing greater society profits and harmony. In this work, that so-called invisible hand is satirically portrayed as a cold presence swallowing up faith and ethics.

This work critically depicting the violence of capitalism and the greed of humanity, a modern-day allegory of sorts, is directed by our new Artistic Director, Satoshi Kamimura. His directing has been praised for the detailed interpretation of the play, thoughtful dialogue between actors and sophisticated spatial design.