For Love or Money, Liverpool Playhouse
Wednesday 22 November 2017
The theatre group enjoyed another successful trip, this time to Liverpool Playhouse, to see For Love or Money.
This production is a final tour for Barrie Rutter, the artistic director of Northern Broadsides, who founded the company 25 years ago. It may not have been as musical and charming as some previous Northern Broadsides productions, but was witty, slick and stylish.
Blake Morrison’s adaptation of the French play Turcaret moves the action from Paris to a small Yorkshire village where an attractive widow, Rose, is pursued by two men. Rose is impoverished and selling off her inheritance to fund her languid lifestyle. Jessica Worrell’s cleverly designed set has little furniture and pale patches in the wallpaper where the family pictures used to hang.
One of Rose’s suitors is the ageing banker, Fuller, who showers her with gifts and clearly has marriage in mind. The other is Arthur, a wastrel, who uses her money to pay his gambling debts. So far, so straightforward, but then there is a twist. Arthur has a servant, Jack Sprout, whom he treats poorly and sends on errands. Jack is not content to remain a servant and he and his love, a lady of ill repute, plot to acquire as much money as they can to fund a new life for themselves. Add a naïve farmer looking for a wife and Fuller’s estranged wife seeking her allowance and complications ensue. However, all is resolved just in time for a celebratory Charleston.
Rutter is excellent as the bumptious Fuller, deflating beautifully when he is confronted by his wife, a stunning performance by Sarah Parks, whose ‘French’ accent steals the show. Jos Vantyler as Arthur preens in every scene and Jordan Metcalfe manages to turn Jack from the pale servant to the scheming plotter with ease. Sarah-Jane Potts as Rose, is by turn cunning and seductive and is unaware of the furore she is causing.
Overall this was an excellent telling of the moral tale of the consequences of lies, greed and corruption. The clever script and stylish production ensured that this was another success for the company and a fitting finale to Rutter’s long association with them.
Photo credits: Nobby Clarke
Many thanks to minibus driver, Hilary Morris.
For a reminder of the show, watch the trailer: >>HERE
N.T.
Leyland U3A Blog 