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COWES TEAM DISHES UP ORTON`S CLASSIC LOOT

By Emily Pearce - Friday, May 2, 2008
COWES TEAM DISHES UP ORTON`S CLASSIC LOOT
Black comedy in Joe Orton’s Loot, on this week at the Trinity Theatre Cowes, from Cowes Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society. From left, Paul Gwinnett, Wayne Child, Geoff Day, Grant Farley and Olivia Day in a scene from the play. Picture by PETER BOAM.
STAGE REVIEW
A HEALTHY suspicion of authority, a satirical poke at religious hypocrisy and the use of a corpse as a card table — all the elements of Joe Orton’s black comedy, Loot, were present and correct in this offering from the Cowes Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society (CAODS).
The cast certainly had a great script with which to work. Orton’s dark farce, complete with inept bank robbers, a deranged detective and a conniving Catholic nurse, is rightly heralded as a masterpiece of British theatre.
But while the individual performances in this production were impressive, the end result did not do justice to the source material — there was a lack of energy to the piece and a lack of confidence in the delivery of Orton’s vigorous and sexy script.
However, the cast clearly put a lot of enthusiasm into their roles and there were some good performances.
Olivia Day was assured as Nurse McMahon, a duplicitous black widow with a string of marriages behind her, while Paul Gwinnett also impressed as the newly widowed McLeavey, a man whose continual bewilderment and obliviousness was convincingly depicted.
Geoff Day was excellent as the hapless bank robber, Hal, offering a very believable and emotional performance as a would-be Cockney wideboy, and his banter with his partner in crime, Dennis, played competently by Wayne Child, was one of the play’s highlights. Grant Farley also put in a good performance as the corrupt and rather stupid Inspector Truscott — a character used mercilessly by Orton to mock the integrity of the British police.
There is definitely a great play waiting to happen here, as long as the production can be sharpened up a little.
Loot runs until tomorrow (Saturday) at the Trinity Theatre, Cowes.