Succession star Brian Cox returns to Scottish stage for first time in a decade: ‘It’s good to be back’

Succession star Brian Cox is returning to the Scottish stage for the first time in a decade as he portrays economist Adam Smith in a new production about the 2008 financial crash.

The Edinburgh International Festival has announced it will open this year with a new play Make It Happen, a co-production between National Theatre of Scotland, Edinburgh International Festival and Dundee Rep Theatre.

The play will explore the rise, fall and fail of the biggest bank in the world – The Royal Bank of Scotland.

Helmed by Fred Goodwin, with his fervent belief in the wisdom of the ‘founder of modern capitalism’, Adam Smith, the once prudent RBS soon plummets, placing Scotland at the heart of the global financial crash of 2008.

Set in Edinburgh and exploring Scotland’s pivotal role in the global financial crash of 2008, this bitingly funny new satire delves into the unchecked growth, spiralling greed that brought the world’s economy to its knees.

Written by playwright and screenwriter James Graham – the man behind hit TV shows Sherwood and Dear England – it will feature Cox as pioneering Scottish economist and philosopher Adam Smith.

‘I’m excited to be doing a play written by James Graham who is such a great writer. It’s been a long time since I played in Scotland – it’s good to be back,’ Cox said.

Paisley born Fred Goodwin was the Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group between 2001 and 2009, presiding over RBS’s rapid rise to become the world’s largest company and their even more rapid fall in 2008.

Make It Happen is the first major artwork exploring RBS’s role in this tumultuous period in recent history.

‘Like many writers, an Edinburgh stage is the first place ever I dared put a full play in front of an audience,’ James Graham said.

James Graham. Credit: James Chapelard.

‘To be invited to join the prestigious Edinburgh International Festival programme this summer is an honour and a thrill. And to work with the National Theatre of Scotland, the Dundee Rep, and of course – Brian Cox, whom I’ve been desperate to write for for as long as I can
remember.

‘We still live in the long shadow of the 2008 financial crash and our inability to reset from that inheritance and its divisive legacies, so it feels right to be interrogating it artistically.

‘But we hope to do so in a show full of music and story, larger-than-life characters, cheeky humour, and some ghosts from Scotland’s centuries’ long past thrown in as well…’

Make It Happen will preview at the Dundee Rep Theatre in late July and then open at the Edinburgh International Festival from 1-9 August.

Read more Culture stories here.

Subscribe to read the latest issue of Scottish Field.