Loot
Reviewed by Lovell Estell III
Odyssey Theatre Ensemble
Through August 10
RECOMMENDED
Joe Orton was an unabashedly gay male who took delight in trashing the narrow, conservative norms of British society. His public life was tragically short, but influential. He once spent six months in prison (along with his longtime companion, lover and eventual murderer, Kenneth Haliwell) for defacing library books, and of this experience he once stated that “the old whore society really lifted up her skirts and the stench was pretty foul.”
Produced in 1965, Loot is Orton’s second stage play, and even after nearly fifty-five years, this dark comedy is still good for laughs.
It’s 1966 in the London house of Mr. and Mrs. McLeavy. Sadly, the lady of the house has died, and her grieving husband (Nicholas Hormann), a devout Catholic, is first seen napping next to her coffin — which sits centerstage, with her remains clearly in view. Enter Fay (Elizabeth Arends), Mrs. Mcleavy’s nurse and caretaker, who not only offers consolation to Mr. Mcleavy on this sad occasion, but immediately sets about trying to seduce him into marrying her. She is a shameless gold digger and femme fatale who’s been married seven times with each one of her husbands meeting “odd deaths.”
They are subsequently joined by the couple’s idiot, wayward, son Hal (Robbie Jarvis) and his friend/lover Dennis (Alex James-Phelps), who just happens to be the chauffeur for the funeral procession, but also Hal’s partner in a bank heist the pair have committed. Where to stash all that money becomes a problem, and the decision is made to take it from a wardrobe cabinet and put it in the coffin with Mrs. Mcleavy. But alas, there is too much cash, and the simple solution is to stuff the cold corpse into the cabinet.
Things start to get really tangled when a “waterboard inspector” named Truscott (Ron Bottitta), who is really a Scotland Yard detective, drops in unexpectedly and starts snooping around. From that point, it becomes a game of cat and mouse — or rather, cat and mice — with Fay, Dennis and Hal, engaging in an antics-charged struggle to hide the purloined lucre and avoid detection. With a few surprises tossed in, it equals an entertaining ride.
Orton unloads on all his favorite targets: the Catholic Church, institutional hypocrisy and corruption, run-amok authority and the “sanctity” of marriage. When it first premiered, there was an understandable outpouring of indignation, but considering the world of today, audiences aren’t at all inclined to be ticked off or offended by such satirical jabs.
This is a straightforward production, guided with a steady hand by director Bart DeLorenzo, who draws solid performances from the cast.
Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Sawtelle; (Performance dates and times vary; call for schedule); through Aug. 10. (310) 477-2055 or www.OdysseyTheatre.com. Running time: two hours with an intermission.
