Review by Karen Ahn of Urban View, published July 27, 2001

Take the Money and Run

By Karen Ahn
Urban View

...Despite the on-and-off accents - or perhaps because of them - this production eventually gels. Orton's arch, razor-edged absurdist work is so patently farcical (the plot involves bank robbers, a corpse, incompetent investigators, and a black widow) that the morphing accents almost heighten the play's cynical fantasy. Every character has unexpected depths of venality and is willing to betray another without batting an eyelash; this is true even of the most conventionally "good" of the characters, whose morality is presented as no less self-serving than the criminality of the others.

The pacing and snap of the play pick up considerably in the second act once the actors slip into the skin of their characters. It also helps that two actors, Danny Wolohan (Dennis) and Jonathan Gonzalez (Inspector Truscott), get more stage time. Wolohan transforms the play with his Cockney swagger, while Gonzalez bulks up the play's timing and shifts the story into hyperdrive. In their presence, Renee Penegor, who plays the charming, sly nurse, really comes alive, as does Greg Lucey who plays Mr. MacLeavy (he especially shines when delivering a horrifyingly amusing monologue about a car accident). As Hal, Andy Alabran has a considerable task in playing a man who is a study in contradictions: someone who is unable to lie, but can steal and betray others without a second thought; he manages to punch up the farce in his role without tipping into burlesque.

Designed for the utmost in discomforting amusement, LOOT also straddles that fine line between the absurd and grotesque. Deadpan, sly, and cheeky, the play exposes the heartlessness of the middle class, and it turns its withering eye on the bourgeoisie without a trace of sentimentality or slickness.