Nancy Carroll

James Graham’s new play is a biography of John Maynard Keynes, known as ‘Mennid’ to his friends, which feels like a visit to a stately home. Mennid narrates the show and introduces us to the main events and personalities of his life but he doesn’t get involved. This is a eulogy, not a drama. He’s a civilised oddball, a highly polished introvert, a maths geek with a saviour complex. His mission is to rescue Britain from the Great Depression by increasing the national debt and blowing the loans on railways and power stations. He uses his lectures to tell a fairy tale about a mythical traveller who finds a dying village and revives its economy by spending £1 in the local tavern.