McPHAIL AND ORTON – A DALLIANCE INTO THE RIDICULOUS

Michael Hurst directs JOE ORTON’s hilarious masterpiece. 

Detective fiction, religious ridicule, morality and the integrity of the police force are all under the magnifying glass; Silo Theatre brings the dark farce LOOT to Auckland audiences from October 23rd, as David McPhail leads the company in one of the greatest stage comedies of all time.

Dear old Mrs. McLeavy is dead. She is survived by her husband, a devoted Catholic and horticulturalist, and her son Hal, a naughty young lad with grand larceny on his mind. After three days of mourning, the newly embalmed corpse resides in situ awaiting burial. Well, kind of. Some of the time.

Hal and his best mate Dennis have just robbed a bank and need a place to stash the dosh. So the coffin is hijacked and the bandaged cadaver chucked into the closet. Enter mayhem pursued by triple entendre.   

A mixture of Six Feet Under, French farce and heist thriller matured in Pinteresque menace, Loot aims the barrel of his literary gun up against the foreheads of the Roman Catholic Church, social attitudes towards death and the honesty of the police force. Loot marked English playwright Joe Orton’s third major production – one that outraged audiences upon its first performance through Orton’s penchant for the macabre and black humour – giving birth to the widely recognized theatrical term "Ortonesque".

Orton’s penchant for dark humour was not reserved for the stage alone – taking up the pen name "Edna Welthrope", this character criticized Orton’s work on the grounds of decency and taste, drumming up controversy within the newspapers and goading authority figures into revealing their own idiocy and priggishness.

As synonymous with satire as he is infamous for his Sir Robert Muldoon impression, David McPhail’s lineage across a multitude of media platforms has seen him become not only an actor, but a writer, producer and director in varying disciplines in New Zealand. Starting his ascension into New Zealand’s cultural history in 1977 with A Week of It, his work with Jon Gadsby lead to a trail of successful (and influential) comedy shows such as McPhail and Gadsby, Issues, More Issues and Letter to Blanchy.

McPhail’s solo work has been critically acclaimed also – playing it straight as finance Roger Douglas in Fallout and the lead role in Seven Periods with Mr Gormsby, a politically incorrect satire regarding a paedophilic school teacher completely out of touch with educational theory in the second millennium. On top of these roles, McPhail has produced and directed over 300 programmes for TVNZ, from documentaries to children’s programmes while also doing much work for The Court Theatre in his hometown – Christchurch. He was last seen in Auckland in Colin McColl’s production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? for Auckland Theatre Company.

Veteran director Michael Hurst brings together an ensemble cast which also include Silo Theatre alumni Mia Blake, Cameron Rhodes, David Van Horn, Charlie McDermott and Sam Snedden, all portraying characters devoid of conventional mortality, and delivering this blacker than ink comedy which nearly ended Orton’s career as a playwright, yet has stood the test of time and become one of his greatest works created.

LOOT plays
23rd October – 21st November 2009
Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, THE EDGE®
Tickets: $20.00 – $39.00 (service fees will apply)
Tickets available through THE EDGE® – www.buytickets.co.nz or 09 357 3355

CAST: 
McLeavy:  DAVID McPHAIL
Fay McMahon:  MIA BLAKE
Hal:  DAVID VAN HORN
Dennis:  CHARLIE McDERMOTT
Inspector Truscott:  CAMERON RHODES
Meadows:  SAM SNEDDEN

direction:  MICHAEL HURST
set design:  RACHAEL WALKER
costume design:  SOPHIE HAM
lighting design            :  JEREMY FERN

production management:  JOSH HYMAN
stage management:  JOSH HYMAN, PIP SMITH
properties management:  BECS EHLERS
technical operation:  STUART PHILLIPS
set construction:  2 CONSTRUCT

graphic design:  CONCRETE
production photography:  AARON K, ANDREW MALMO
publicity:  ELEPHANT PUBLICITY