Dramatic exploration of an investing moral conundrum

Running at the Golden Goose Theatre, London, to 23 April

Short-selling – borrowing shares then selling them in the hope that you can buy them back at a lower price and profit from their fall – is contentious, writes Matthew Partridge. Many defend it as a legitimate investment strategy that helps expose fraud and make markets more efficient by acting as a check on the optimistic bias of analysts and promoters. Others argue that there is something distasteful, even morally wrong, about betting on other people’s misfortune, especially when the misfortune could have serious implications for large numbers of people. Short Memory, written and directed by Richard Roques and running at the Golden Goose theatre in Camberwell in south London, explores the issues.

Simon (James Fletcher) has just graduated from university. To the discomfort of his grandfather Adam (Peter Saracen), a retired city grandee, and his grandmother Nancy (Janet Behan), he decides to take a job at his father Gerald’s (Jonathan Hansler) hedge fund. When Gerald also decides to recruit Simon’s boyfriend Jack (Dan Wolff), things start to get complicated, a situation that is exacerbated when we learn that Simon’s grandfather has Alzheimer’s, a condition that may be helped by a drug that is made by a company that Gerald’s fund is shorting.

Much of the action, which runs over a period of six years, takes place against the backdrop of the choir of which Adam, Jack, and eventually Simon are members. Roques eschewed the easy option of using sound effects and has assembled a full choir, which performs extracts from Handel’s Messiah at points in the play. This adds an extra dimension to proceedings, although the irony, referred to in passing, of the choir performing a work by Handel, who put large amounts of his wealth into the South Sea Bubble, eventually breaking even or ending slightly ahead, isn’t really developed.

The play is entertaining, and does a good job of explaining how short-selling works – the explanation itself even contains a pivotal plot point. It also benefits from some strong performances. By far the most impressive comes from Hansler, whose considerable stage presence and energy brings the play to life. The result is one of the most ambitious offWest End productions currently running in London.