LOOT

Various venues across Wales

Tue 2 Oct-Sat 10 Nov

Two thieves. One occupied coffin. Heaps of stolen cash. No moral compass. Black RAT Productions are back, touring the country this autumn with another knockabout farce: Joe Orton’s morbidly funny masterpiece Loot, a play that outraged audiences and was heavily censored by the Lord Chamberlain when it first appeared in 1964. Even today it still has the power to shock. Last year marked 50 years since the playwright’s tragic death at the hands of his partner, Kenneth Halliwell, and a smash-hit London revival proved Orton’s pitch-black humour was still fresh in the 21^st century. This year, Black RAT Productions put their own spin on this dark comedy.

The play follows two young felons, Hal (Rick Yale) and Dennis (Gareth Tempest), who rob a bank next to the funeral parlour where Dennis works, before hiding the money back at Hal’s house. Hal’s mother, Mrs. McLeavy (Julie Barclay), has just died and, in a moment of desperation, the pair decide to hide the money in her coffin, meaning her body has to be hidden elsewhere. It’d be dead simple if they weren’t in the company of a gold-digging nurse (Sarah Jayne Hopkins), a grieving widower (John Cording) and a borderline psychotic policeman, Inspector Truscott (Sam Davies). Underpinning all this mayhem is Orton’s blistering satirical tongue, mocking the police force, the Catholic church and middle class attitudes towards death. 

Black RAT Productions have built up a solid reputation over the last 10 years for producing consistently sophisticated productions of the comic classics of modern theatre. From John Godber’s Bouncers to Alan Ayckbourn’s Bedroom Farce, this company are renowned for their vibrant re-interpretations of fast-paced farces – most recently, last year’s production of Richard Bean’s slapstick caper One Man, Two Guvnors received widespread critical acclaim.

Directed by Richard Tunley, who has directed all of the company’s productions to date, this production stops off at 17 venues across Wales on its tour, which runs throughout October and into early November.

Tickets: £12-£15.50 (varies by venue) Info: www.blackratproductions.co.uk SAM PRYCE