Loot

“Euthanasia is against my religion so I decided to murder her.”

Young thieves (and lovers) Hal and Dennis need a place to stash the cash from a bank robbery. The coffin of Hal’s recently deceased mother, currently at home awaiting burial by her bereaved husband Mr McLeavy, is the perfect solution.

There’s only one hitch: where can they hide the body?

The arrival on the scene of Inspector Truscott, a corrupt and nosy policeman investigating the heist, puts a spanner in the works. To get out of the jam, the boys are forced to trust Fay, the late Mrs McLeavy’s much-married nurse, and enlist her help in return for a share of the loot.

This blistering queer black comedy eviscerates the hypocrisies of church, state and social niceties, the farce bouncing wildly between the ordinary and the outrageous.

New Theatre once again celebrates the outrageous wit of Joe Orton, following on from our productions of Entertaining Mr Sloane in 2012 and What the Butler Saw in 2018.

New Theatre are delighted to welcome back Johann Walraven as director, who has previously helmed their productions of The Removalists, Silent Disco, Consensual and The Chekhov Term. Other directing credits include Relativity (Parramatta Riverside), Never Let Me Go (Griffin), Buried (Old 505), This Boy’s In Love (Ensemble), Ruby Moon (Samsonite Productions), and as Assistant Director, Travesties (Sydney Theatre Co) and Miss Julie (Darlinghurst Theatre Co).

“I am thrilled to direct Loot, two decades after playing ‘Hal’ myself at NIDA, directed by Terry Clarke. I fell in love with the piece then and love it even more so now. Orton’s writing is so sharp, almost too much so, as you are laughing at one joke whilst another is being uttered. You almost have to stifle yourself to catch it all. But it’s not all puns and witticisms; his barbs cut to the core of social issues 50 years ago, and those issues are still prevalent today,” said Johann.

CREATIVE TEAM
Cast Alison Davies, Saro Lepejian, Oliver MacFadyen, Nicholas Papademetriou, Shannon Ryan, Alexander Spinks, Andrew Waldin
Director Johann Walraven
Set Designer David Marshall-Martin
Lighting Designer Paris Bell
Costume Designer Kathleen Kershaw
Sound Designer Glenn Braithwaite
Dialect Coach Nick Curnow
Fight Director Tim Dashwood
Stage Manager Rosane McNamara
Props Assistant Andrew Tucker

SEASON 
10 October – 4 November 2023

PERFORMANCES
Preview Tue 10 October 7:30pm
Opening Night Wed 11 October 7:30pm
Thu – Sat 7:30pm, Sun 5pm
Final performance Sat 4 November 2pm

TICKETS
Full $35
Concessions, Groups (6+) $30
Thrifty Thursdays $25
Preview $20

BOOKINGS
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Photos © Bob Seary