Love and Money (Oberon Modern Plays)

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Love and Money builds up into a rather stark picture of Yuppie life today. Its overriding force seems to be neither love nor money but anger, expressed even more forcefully by Jess's parents than the young, once happy couple themselves.

To get to the nub, this is the story of the relationship between David and his wife, Kellie Bright's Jess. It travels from the time of their earliest meetings through beyond the grave, but largely in reverse. Inventively written to turn what many will see as a dry subject into something more compelling, 'Love and Money' is a long overdue theatrical vehicle to warn us of the burdens of debt, but it also forces us to re-examine what we mean by happiness. Though it's a fine example of social commentary, my ingrained cynicism tells me that it's impact will be lightly felt, if at all, out there in the wider community. Nevertheless, it's a commendable and eminently watchable production with messages that really do matter, and is therefore well worth a visit. Some of the meaning of Love and Money may take more than one viewing or reading to come through. However, there is enough to wrestle with at first sight to provoke thought about the rat race and its victims and to make the play well worth a try. As in Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along” (albeit without song), the scenario, once set up, steadily reverses over the course of the evening. Thus, by the poignant end, aud’s knowledge of the outcome is contrasted with Jess’ earlier, hopeful self, dreaming of a life like that promised by TV. Under actor-turned-director Matthew Dunster, in addition to the two leads, Paul Moriarty shines in a couple of cameos, first as Jess's father and then playing a sleazy pimp who like to think of himself as an agent to the stars.The production carries a collectively strong cast, but Sara Lloyd-Gregory gives a solid performance as the naïve Jess. She is completely endearing, displaying effortless humour tinged with a hint of self-destruction. Joanna Simpkins is also a stand-out, naturally and skilfully funny. We see David struggling to come to terms with Jess's mental problems, which include some kind of shopping or spending addiction that eventually forces him to give up his job as a teacher and beg his ex, played by the dryly humorous Claudie Blakley, to get him a job in sales. There is even a tangential suggestion in one of the play's funniest scenes that he became a rather aged rent boy to make ends meet.

Dennis Kelly doesn't believe in making life simple for the paying customer. That has been part of the attraction of his contemporary works such as After the End and Osama the Hero, which look at life today from the strangest perspectives. Authoritative and imaginative direction from Matthew Dunster, and an able and focused cast of six provide a stimulating concoction of wit and tragedy which keeps us engrossed even when the subject matter is unnerving, or when it shifts somewhat abruptly. Although each of the scenes is of a uniformly high standard, the best is where David is being interviewed for a job by an old college chum, Val, played with gloating superiority, perfect timing, and agile wordplay by Claudie Blakley. It's a scene powered by witty, sharp and hard-hitting dialogue. When David says "I don't want you to do me any favours", Val retorts pointedly "But I am doing you a favour". Val derides David's English degree (she has one in Business Studies, of course) and is in no doubt about just what is important to her and the rest of the world: cash. "I photosynthesise cash" she says. I’m just so / looking forward’ are some of the last words of the performance and Jess’ final speech, but in the world of the play they are the first, since we’ve ended up at the beginning of Jess and David’s relationship, before everything goes wrong. It is a strength of Pailing’s performance that we meet Jess halfway through the play with her frenzied love of shopping in full bloom, announcing that as a child she discovered she was an alien, and we watch her manic personality gradually shrink until we are left with only the seeds of what we know will become her addiction. As she speaks, more quietly now, (and places her make-up in a bag) we can see she will become a woman standing outside a shop transfixed on a handbag, but, crucially, we also see her when she looks like all of us, that is, just liking ‘things’ and wanting a ‘neater’ life. Her acting matches the tragic effect of Kelly analeptic tale, where we finish with what actually turns out to be a really crushing sense of sadness as Jess tells of her excitement for the future. Duncan a sleazy 'agent' who engages separately with both Jess and David, offering opportunities in pornography to relieve debt

Reviews

Kelly’s constant refracting of the increasingly dominant trauma of debt does gradually lose some impact. However, that’s counterbalanced by his feel for vivid characterization. This is a play about death and Big Ideas and what Ed Miliband might call predatory capitalism, but it’s really funny, too. And I don’t think that’s an accident. The Godfather of modern political theatre Bertolt Brecht believed laughter and fun were essential to the political power of theatre, and this production certainly makes the most of the dark humour which accompanies the vitriolic critique.

you have to, you know, despatch them, so I put a cloth over it and I hit it on the head with a cup, a mug, It gradually becomes clear that, instead of attempting to save her, he advanced her death because that represented freedom from the debt threatening to engulf them. There’s something almost forensic in Kelly’s approach that’s perfectly echoed in Matthew Dunster’s expert production. Its fluidity is accented by Anna Fleischle’s chilly, architectural set, which consists of two white and steel walls full of hidden hatches that flip open to provide everything from concealed cupboards to a hospital bed and even a fish tank. Declan Randall’s interactive set was effective, if not a little overly symbolic. Aside from the screens previously mentioned, the small space was littered with bar codes. Although the set was obviously intended to convey a major theme, it did feel slightly too stylised for the nature of the script. The minimalistic set ensured swift scene changes and the production didn’t seem to lull at any point.Love and Money by Dennis Kelly is a difficult play to get to grips with. While there is a plot running through it about a young couple, Jess and David, crippled by Jess’s debts, the play seems disjointed, often becoming more of a series of explorative sketches around the opposing themes of love and money. Nonetheless, great praise must go to a company who can take a difficult play and pull it off with a level of acting, direction and design this high. Dennis Kelly is an internationally acclaimed playwright. Stage plays include Debris (Theatre 503 and Battersea Arts Centre, 2003 & 2004); Osama the Hero (Paines Plough and Hampstead Theatre 2004 & 2005; winner of the Meyer Whitworth Award 2006); After the End (Paines Plough, Traverse Theatre, Bush Theatre, UK and international tour, 2005); Love and Money (Young Vic Theatre and Manchester Royal Exchange, 2006); Taking Care of Baby (Hampstead Theatre and Birmingham Repertory Theatre, 2006; winner of the John Whiting Award 2007); DNA (NT Connections, National Theatre, 2007-8); Orphans (Paines Plough, Traverse Theatre, Soho Theatre and Birmingham Rep, 2009; winner of a Fringe First and Herald Angel Award 2009) and The Gods Weep (Royal Shakespear Company and Hampstead Theatre). In this kaleidoscopic evening, Moriarty also plays Jess’ father. Together with his sour, mean-spirited wife (Joanna Bacon), he becomes so enraged by the expensively ostentatious temple erected on the burial plot adjacent to that of their daughter —“What does that say about us?” they demand — that he tells of smashing it up in the dead of night. The play ends with a long monologue from Jess who is overjoyed at having been proposed to. The speech is very philosophical contrasted to the materialistic chatter of before however the future is foreshadowed as Jess claims that now she is going to be married she would like to be a little bit more like the people in the magazines.