Loot is a two-act play by the English
playwright Joe Orton. The play is a dark farce that satirises the Roman Catholic Church,
social attitudes to death, and the integrity of the police force. Loot was
Orton's third major production, following Entertaining Mr Sloane and
the television play The Good and Faithful
Servant. Playing with the conventions of popular farce, Orton
creates a hectic world and examines English attitudes and perceptions in the
mid twentieth century. The play won several awards in its London run and has
had many revivals. Loot follows the fortunes of two young thieves,
Hal and Dennis. Together they rob the bank next to the funeral parlour where
Dennis works and return to Hal's home to hide the money. Hal's mother has just
died and the money is hidden in her coffin while her body keeps on appearing
around the house. Upon the arrival of Inspector Truscott, the plot becomes
bizarre as Hal and Dennis try to keep him off their trail, aided by Nurse
McMahon and to the despair of Hal's father, Mr. McLeavy. The play satirises the
rituals of bereavement, and the mismatch between nominal standards of
behaviour—religious and secular—and people's actual conduct. The police, as
represented by Inspector Truscott, are depicted as venal and corrupt. As is
typical of Orton's writing the humour of the dialogue arises from the contrast
between the shocking and bizarre elements that punctuate what the characters
say and the mechanically genteel utterance that predominates in their speech. Orton
completed a first draft in October 1964, which premiered in Cambridge on 1 February 1965. The production
starred Geraldine McEwan, Kenneth Williams, Duncan Macrae and Ian McShane and was directed by Peter Wood. Responses to
the first production were extremely mixed, with many in the audience outraged,
as Orton had intended, but largely negative reviews also affected the box
office. The London Evening News called
it "one of the most revolting things I've ever seen." The first run ended at Wimbledon on 20 March
1965 with the play considered a flop due to its problems with repeated script
rewrites, uneven direction, a stylish but unsympathetic set, and what many
considered the miscasting of Williams. Loot was successfully
revived the following year, however, at the Jeanette Cochrane Theatre in Holborn. It opened on 27 September 1966 with Gerry Duggan as
McLeavy, Sheila Ballantine as Fay, Kenneth Cranham as Hal, Simon Ward as Dennis, and Michael Bates as
Inspector Truscott. It was directed by Charles Marowitz and designed by Tony Carruthers. The
production transferred to the Criterion Theatre in November 1966.The play had its first
Broadway production in New York at the Biltmore Theatre. It opened on 18 March 1968.[4] Kenneth Cranham played Hal (as he had in the 1966 London
production), James Hunter played Dennis, Liam Redmond played McLeavy, Carole Shelley played Fay, George Rose played
Truscott, and Norman Barrs played Meadows. It was directed by Derek Goldby and designed by William Ritmann. The play
was profiled in the William Goldman book The Season:
A Candid Look at Broadway. Albert Finney directed a production at the Royal Court Theatre as
part of its Joe Orton Festival. This production opened on 3 June 1975. Arthur O'Sullivan played
McLeavy, Jill Bennett played
Fay, David Troughton played
Hal, James Aubrey played
Dennis, Philip Stone played
Truscott, and Michael O'Hagan played Meadows. It was designed by Douglas Heap, with costumes
by Harriet Geddes. A production was staged at the Lyric Theatre in 1984
during the run of which the actor Leonard Rossiter died whilst waiting to go on stage. The
play was staged at the Manhattan Theatre Club in
a production directed by John Tillinger. It opened on 18 February 1986.[6] Kevin Bacon played Dennis, Željko Ivanek played Hal, Zoë Wanamaker played Fay, Charles Keating played
McLeavy, Joseph Maher played
Truscott (winning a Drama Desk Award for his performance), and Nick Ullett played Meadows. This production
transferred to the Music Box Theatre on Broadway on 28 June 1986.[6] Alec Baldwin, in his Broadway debut, replaced Kevin Bacon in
the role of Dennis. It was awarded the 1986 Outer Critics Circle Awards for
best revival and best director. The Lyric Hammersmith staged a production directed by Peter
James, which opened on 7 May 1992.Patrick O'Connell played
McLeavy, Dearbhla Molloy played
Fay, Ben Walden played Hal, Colin Hurley played Dennis, David Troughton (who had played Hal in the 1975 Royal
Court production) played Truscott, and Richard Hodder played Meadows. It was designed by Bernard Culshaw. In June
2001 Braham Murray directed
a production at the Royal Exchange, Manchester with Derek Griffiths as Truscott, Gabrielle Drake as Fay and Colin Prockter as McLeavy. Loot was revived
from 11 December 2008 to 31 January 2009 at the Tricycle Theatre, London starring Matt Di Angelo and David Haig as Hal and Truscott. It transferred to Theatre Royal, Newcastle and
ran between 2–7 February 2009. A 2017 production directed by Michael Fentiman was staged at the Park Theatre, Finsbury Park, before
transferring to the Watermill Theatre, Newbury. Christopher Fulford played
Inspector Truscott and Sinead Matthews Nurse McMahon. The dead body was played
by Anah Ruddin.[9] Positive reviews for the production were
published in The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian[] and the Sunday Express[ ]Michael Billington in The
Guardian gave Loot a five star rating, commenting on
the way Fentiman referenced the "shock tactics" in Orton's work, and
stating: "the result not only sharpens an already subversive text but
yields a first-rate production by Michael Fentiman that reminds us of the
serious intent behind Orton’s drollery."