If you’ve studied economics or finance, or taken part in team-building exercises, then you’ve probably encountered business simulations involving being put in charge of a fictional firm facing various dilemmas.
World Factory (designed by Zoë Svendsen and Simon Daw, and written by Kate O’Connor and David Isaacs), which is currently running at the Young Vic theatre in London, takes this idea to the stage to explore business ethics.
On arrival, the audience breaks into small groups, and after some introductory monologues, each group is charged with running a Chinese textile factory and given money and a folder with a list of workers. For the next 90 minutes, you are given a series of multiple-choice cards, with choices affecting both the bottom line and the number of staff. At certain points, the game stops for events such as the annual spring holiday.
Unlike your average dry business simulation, World Factory is slick, immersive and fast-paced. With the help of barcode technology, the four performers (Naomi Christie, Lucy Ellinson, Heather Lai and Jamie Martin) move between teams, dispensing cards and taking cash. Screens show containers being loaded and unloaded, and ticking-clock effects up the tension. In keeping with the fashion theme, each participant receives a receipt with their choices listed on it at the end.
So how realistic was it? My own group’s experience suggests it is possible to achieve a balanced outcome. Our stance over 22 decisions earned us a comfortable profit, above-average worker satisfaction and the best output of all the factories. It’s far from the only path – another team killed someone, suggesting that much darker outcomes are possible – but our result mirrors World Factory’s essential pragmatism.
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Other reviews have generally been positive. The conflict between profit and ethics made for “a richly absorbing experience”, reckoned Henry Hitchings in the Evening Standard, while The Guardian’s Lyn Gardner called it “sociable, exhaustingly good fun” that “clearly connects actions to consequences”. Even The Spectator’s Lloyd Evans was pleasantly surprised – having expected to see “labourers bullied, serfs cudgelled” and “chimney sweeps starved”, he was shocked to find “Thatcherite propaganda at the Young Vic”.
• World Factory runs at the Young Vic every evening at 7.45pm until 6 June.