SERIOUS MONEY till 23 May.
SERIOUS MONEY: Caryl Churchill.
Birmingham Rep.
www.birmingham-rep.co.uk
Runs: 2h 45m, one interval, till 23 May.
Review: Rod Dungate, 12 May 2009.
Spirited production that can’t breathe life into a play that’s better off dead.
Watching this show at this time is a strange experience. I had anticipated saying: ‘How relevant this is again.’ But oddly it feels non-relevant; it feels as if the play’s been neutered, has missed its mark.
There’s a well worn expression that ‘timing is everything in politics’. It’s probably the same in theatre. When Churchill wrote SERIOUS MONEY the performance would have been underpinned by a great anger, even hatred, in much of society about the effects of Thatcherism and its related free-market economy, deregulation and general greed. Now there isn’t that hatred. And of course the present financial issues are seen as global. The anger, such as it is, has become diffuse, even metamorphosed into resignation.
In addition, whereas the notion of barrow-boys buying and selling shares et al, the notion of futures and hedging was new to us in the 80s, we are now overloaded with information. We have moved on, we’ve become educated.
So Churchill’s play is thin. Her murder mystery plot line is tenuous and we crave more information, for we learn nothing new. This, in turn, sheds a light on the sub-pantomiming rhyming script; the text is truly awful with rhyme after rhyme being signalled by a playwright who can’t handle the verse. When the word ‘shitty’ for instance rears is lavatorial head, don’t you just know the next line’s going to end with ‘City’?
Some lively and spirited performances non-the-less. Kirsty Bushell as Scilla, the dealer on the hunt for her brother’s killer, is an engaging host to lead us on our journey. Sara Stewart brings in a marvellous double as more-proper-than-proper broker Mrs Etherington and Dolcie Starr, PR Consultant; and a fabulous triple when you add in American Arbitrageur, Marylou Baines. Joseph May brings a wolflike charm to banker Zackerman and Ian Gelder gives us a warm glimpse of a disappearing world as Greville Todd.
Maybe it’s a sign of our cynical times that, not only do we fail to like these characters, but also we fail to dislike them too.
Scilla Todd: Kirsty Bushell.
Jake Todd: Rufus Wright.
Grimes: Lex Shrapnel.
Zackerman: Joseph May.
Merrison: Ian Gelder.
Durkfeld: Wil Johnson.
Greville Todd: Ian Gelder.
Frosby: Rufus Wright.
T.K.: Wil Johnson.
Marylou Baines: Sara Stewart.
Jacinta Condor: Pandora Colin.
Nigel Ajibala: Wil Johnson.
Billy Corman: Lex Shrapnel.
Mrs Etherington: Sara Stewart
Duckett: Ian Gelder.
Ms Biddulph: Kirsty Bushell.
Dolcie Starr: Sara Stewart.
Grevett: Rufus Wright.
Soat: Rufus Wright.
Gleason: Ian Gelder.
Other Parts: Jack Loxton, Victoria Eyton, Caroline Gray, Alex Heffernan, Lorna Nickson-Brown, Danny Wood, Charlotte Hale, Yolanda Sadler
Director: Jonathan Munby.
Designer: Paul Wills.
Lighting Designer: Ben Ormerod.
Projection and Video Design: Fin Ross, for mesmer.
Musical Arrangement and Additional Composition: Dominic Haslam.
Sound Designer: Dan Hoole
Movement Director: Danny McGrath.
Voice Coach: Jan Haydn Rowles.
Casting Director: Amy Ball.
Assistant Director: William Bowry.
2009-05-13 12:30:28