Loot

By Joe Orton

Directed Robert Budina

Art design Kristo Cala

Costums Arian Risvani

Music Kristi

Cast

Fei Luiza Xhuvani

Mc Leavy Bujar Asqeriu

Trascot Fatos Sela

Harold Helidon Fino

Denis Neritan Licaj

The play was a production of Albanian National Theatre.

Synopsis

Joe Orton?s Loot starts with an old man in bed, his name is Mr. McLeavy. His wife?s nurse, Fay walks in to help him get ready for the day. His wife has recently passed away from an illness and Mr. McLeavy is highly distraught over the loss of his wife. The first thing that?s noticed is that the wardrobe is locked. Mr. McLeavy?s son Hal comes into the scene and yells Fey and his father that he can?t unlock the wardrobe because he has something important in there. It turns out that Hal and his best friend Dennis have robbed a bank by digging through the funeral home next door, and they have hid the money in the wardrobe. Dennis is the undertaker?s assistant so he comes over to ?help? with the funeral arrangements. He tells Hal that a police Inspector was snooping around his house, pretending to be a water inspector. While Hal?s father and the nurse are downstairs, Hal and Dennis put the money in the coffin and move the body into the wardrobe. Dennis tells Hal that he wants to marry Fey, and that he loves her. Meanwhile the ?water? Inspector has showed up and is asking to look around. Dennis has asked Hal to lie to the Ispector about the robbery, Hal has a problem with this becasue he is a good Christian boy and cannot lie. So while Dennis and Mr. McLeavy are taking the coffin to the funeral, Hal and Fey make up an excuse why the can't go, Fey tells Hal that she is on to him and Dennis and now wants a cut in o the action. Inspector Truscott is obviously onto Hall and Dennis and tells Hal to tell the truth about what has happened, which he does. The Inspector thinks Hal is lying and hilarity proceeds. Truscott and Fey seem to know each other, but both deny it. Dennis and Mr. McLeavy come back because the funeral procession was destroyed and the coffin has been mangled, with the money still in it.. At this point Truscott reveals himself to be an Inspector with Scotland Yard and has quite a few accusations. It turns out that Fey has murdered at least seven of her husbands, and may be responsible for killing thirteen people in total including Mrs. McLeavy. She has already managed to egt the woman's will changed over to her and is trying to convince Mr. McLeavy to marry her for even more money. Dennis convinces her to marry him, because he is "rich" from the bank robbery. Truscott thinks he has all the evidence he needs with Mrs. McLeavy's innards in a separate coffin, but when he goes to retrieve it he finds it has exploded. So he moves on to Hal and Dennis, who he cannot even pin their crime onto, because Mr. McLeavy cover sfor them. In the end only Mr. McLeavy gets arrested and it's just another funny British nonsensical play.

Loot, Joe Orton?s black comedy now playing in Williamstown is a hilarious blend of one-liners, agile plot twists, and audacious assaults upon sanctity of church and state. It is a brilliant farce, as witty as Wilde, but much darker and totally irreverent of everything. The humor is as bizarre as it is compelling.

This humor is aimed most deeply at police corruption, brutality and ineptitude, although the Catholic Church receives a share of his bitter satire.