It’s The Economy, Stupid
Live Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne, 17th July 2025
Invited | Review by Stephen Stokoe
It was a delight to be back in the wonderful space that is Live Theatre which is deep in the heart of Newcastle’s ever changing quayside. It is always fascinating walking around what is obviously a repurposed but historic building. There is always a warm welcome by the staff at Live Theatre both from the box office and the bar where the usual array of confections and soft and alcoholic drinks are available for purchase prior to any performance.
This evening, the theatrical offering was ‘It’s the Economy, Stupid’ performed by Joe Sellman-Leava and techie cum magician cum referee Dylan Howells, developed with and directed by Katharina Reinthaller. The title is a quote from Bill Clinton’s financial strategist, James Carville during the 1992 Presidential elections suggesting that voters’ main concern during any election battle is the state of the country’s finances.
I have said many times during my many reviews of musical theatre, that I am astonished by the vast array of topics that can be used to fashion interesting stories around which great shows can be developed. Penny dreadfuls such as Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, gothic horrors like Jekyll and Hyde and weighty topics like drug abuse, mental health disorders, grief and depression have all be intertwined to produce award winning productions. It’s The Economy, Stupid has economic policy on both sides of the Atlantic at its heart but more important how these grand plans for the economy can have an undesirable knock on effect at a personal level. A dramatic presentation about the inner workings and results of capitalism might, on the face of it, be a pretty hard sell.
Sellman-Leava packages his informative message into what is essentially a biographical story pertaining to his parents losing their business when he and his brother were young. Howells is there to intervene when the memories of bailiffs arriving, the ignominy of boxing up and moving on, and his lefter political leanings become too much. There is an affection between the two as they occasionally interact on the stage which, I am sure is intended to convey a fraternal connection which is both argumentative and loving at the same time. It should also be noted that Joe Sellman- Leava, this evening was feeling considerably under the weather and suffering from what he described as ‘claggy brain.’ This meant that Howells had to be even more vigilant to follow Sellman – Leava’s very wordy piece not just to keep him focussed and on topic but to rescue him when the words eluded him. Full marks and kudos to them both for soldiering on and giving a thoroughly entertaining, informative and occasionally impromptu performance.
As the story is told, the audience is introduced to the banking system, the thoughts of weighty influential economists just as John Maynard Keynes and the Adam Smith theory of the invisible hand. Central to the piece is a metaphor based on the game of monopoly which originally had a rule whereby at the end of the game players would unite to work together to ensure a fair and equitable distribution of wealth. This was created by the inventor of the game, Elizabeth Magie, but which was removed long before the first distribution on the market meaning the game ended when one person had accumulated all the wealth.
The set is a collection of boxes. These are there to signify the packing up of the business as Joe’s world collapses around his family and they are forced to move. The way that these boxes are utilised in the performance is nothing short of genius. As Joe’s story unfolds, the main political antagonists in his family’s predicament are revealed including Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan but also modern politicians are illustrated such as Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak showing that while the players change, the outcome seldom differs. Howells’ lighting and multi-media wizardry is very clever indeed which misses the opportunity to use the word magical but I want to save that for his clever use of magic tricks and illusions further demonstrating the illusionary nature of economics and the banking system and are just fun to boot.
Joe’s tale is not a happy one and as he draws the metaphorical curtain on his early years experience, he applies it into the modern day where, as he puts it ‘the safety net [that saved his family] now has holes in it’ drilling home that his experience is not unique and that people are still losing their homes and businesses and could be finding themselves in a far worse predicament that his family found themselves.
This is a clever, thoughtful and entertaining piece of theatre which imparts understanding in a very accessible way some of the economic decisions and mantras that encourage greed in the populace, make the rich significantly richer, but ultimately cause suffering lower down the food chain. It is a personal story told eloquently and occasionally passionately by a performer who experienced it. It is educational, it is thought-provoking, and above all, it is human.