Big Bang

Can you tell us a little bit about Big Bang (the event that the play is based around)?
Big Bang occurred on 27th of October 1986. It was when the stock exchange was deregulated. Previously all the exchanges took place on this huge trading floor and there were traders everywhere shouting at each other. That was completely changed when big bang occurred because all of that face to face trading (which was called open outcry trading) changed to being carried out on a computer and people interacting with each other via the internet. This was done to give more opportunities for world wide business and it made things a lot faster and more competitive. When it came into force a trader could be having an instant one to one conversation with someone in Chile for example whereas previously the person from Chile would have to have a representative on the trading floor who would then speak to them. So Big Bang effectively cut out the middle man and made business – especially British business – much more competitive on a world wide scale and created a huge amount more wealth. It also got rid of a specific middle man called a jobber who was the person who would run back and forth from the floor to the client. It also stopped various regulations about the amount of money that people were able to deal with so suddenly everyone could make as much money as they wanted. I think that event very much informs Serious Money; when the play was first performed in 1987 Big Bang had happened only six months ago so everyone knew about it and I think one of the important things to get right in this play is making people aware of what Big Bang is play and how instrumental it is in the financial society that exists today.