A few hours before the 2008 stock market crash, Jason, a ruthless hedge fund manager, gets a surprise visit from his assistant Cass, who has just returned from an enforced sabbatical. Equal parts thriller and Greek tragedy, this modern-day clash of Titans is brought to life by the incandescent Luc Picard and Sophie Desmarais.

The 2008 stock market crash is just hours away, and the markets are on the verge of collapse. As the seconds tick by, Jason, a hedge fund manager, grapples with the implications of the looming economic meltdown. In the midst of the chaos, his assistant Cass unexpectedly returns from an enforced sabbatical, and Jason’s office becomes the scene of a clash of Titans made all the more dramatic by some past history that inevitably comes to light.

In Michael Mackenzie’s edgy two-hander (first produced in its original English version, Instructions to Any Future Socialist Government Wishing to Abolish Christmas), emotions, numbers and words collide in a frantic yet controlled rhythm, impeccably captured by Alexis Martin’s translation. Beneath the surface of this breathtaking thriller about the death throes of a world in free fall, the Canadian playwright brilliantly evokes the ancient Greek tradition of the Oracle at Delphi, whose prophecies often foretold tragic events.

On Simon Guilbault’s spare and effective set, performers Luc Picard and Sophie Desmarais engage in a ruthless battle that gives full rein to their extraordinary acting skills. Marc Beaupré’s disciplined direction sidesteps any hint of anti-capitalist tirade, and lends an almost anthropological quality to Mackenzie’s examination of the world of high finance.