The lowdown on Joe Orton’s Loot
Welsh theatre company Black RAT Productions is touring with a brand new production of Loot. We put director Richard Tunley in the spotlight
Q: What can audiences expect from Loot?
A: Joe Orton’s Loot is a black comedy or dark farce.
Set in themed 1960s, the plot centres around two young men, Hal and Dennis.
The boys have robbed a bank and need to hide their “loot”. Hal’s mum has just died and so the obvious place to hide the money is inside her coffin!
With the money safely hidden, however, there’s no place for mum whose body keeps re-appearing at the most inopportune times.
Alongside this runs a second plotline of a mass murdering nurse and a psychopathic policeman disguised as a man from the water board.
You can see why it’s a farce. The play also pushes the boundaries and is quite dark in places.
Orton wanted to write a play that highlighted corruption in the establishment, in particular in the law and the church.
He used farce as the way to do this to great comedy effect. We have tried to secure the rights for Loot for a while and we’re delighted that we can tour the play this year.
Q: How do you choose a production to tour?
A: Our starting point for choosing the plays for the autumn tour is always comedy. We look for a wellknown title or playwright and go from there.
We started by touring John Godber’s Bouncers with Mike Doyle and this led to us working with Godber on a new version of Up’N’Under which he created for us.
That was an exciting time for us which led to us being offered the rights to many shows that usually professional companies would have difficulty in securing.
So we’ve toured comedies by writers such as Tim Firth, Alan Ayckbourn, Marc Camoletti and had the opportunity to have the first rights to tour cracking modern comedies such as The 39 Steps and last year’s One Man, Two Guvnors by Richard Bean. Black RAT was 10 years old last year and One Man, Two Guvnors was a wonderful way of celebrating our birthday.
As a small touring company we adapted the piece to incorporate actor/musicians which I think added to its success.
So what could contrast with One Man and give our audiences variety? Loot.
Also important to me is the show’s relevance and accessibility to school audiences. I worked as a teacher and drama examiner and I try to ensure that our productions can offer a quality experience for students. We are supported massively by teachers across Wales.
Q: How long does it take to create a production like this?
A: We finalise choice of play around January and then initial work begins.
Concept and art work starts fairly early in the year and auditions take pace around May/June.
Once we have cast the show, all pre-production work starts in earnest.
Set and costume designs kick in and we always produce a promo video for our shows around June/ July. We take pride in our promos. We make a great effort to find locations and film them almost as a mini-film. It’s also a great way for actors to meet for the first time.
Rehearsals then start around three weeks before our opening night. We work in a rehearsal room in Cardiff before moving to Blackwood Miners’ Institute to work on set for the last week.
When staging a farce, it is important to get on set as soon as possible as we must use the environment to find and create more comedy!
Q: How did Black RAT Productions begin and what does the company aim to achieve?
A: Black RAT started in order to stage a production of Edward Albee’s A Zoo Story.
It was a text for A-level drama and I was asked if I would put the play on. I worked with a fellow actor, Lewis Cook, and the play was staged. It sold out in all venues immediately and Black RAT was born.
Opportunities for actors to practice their skills are not readily available.
Singers and dancers tend to keep up classes when they’re “resting” but actors don’t have these type of classes readily available to them, so I decided to use the company as a vehicle by which to offer such opportunities.
In the early years, our shows were profit share and we did much to provide experiences for emerging and established actors.
So, if an actor, for example, hadn’t done any Shakespeare for a while, they could work with us, get back into a rehearsal room and develop those skills.
As the reputation of the company grew and our relationship with Blackwood Miners’ Institute and RCT Theatres developed, we started to tour the whole of Wales.
Now we are known for producing quality productions of well-established classic comedies.
We have done much to grow audiences for venues across Wales and I am extremely proud of the impact we have had across the whole of the country.
Q: You have gained a loyal following since the company began. What do you think is the main reason for this?
A: We understand our audiences. It is interesting but the audiences are different all over the country and different things make them laugh.
I have been lucky to have toured with the wonderful Frank Vickery for many years and so I “cut my teeth” performing comedy to these audiences.
My approach to directing is always to keep the audience at the front of my thinking. We respect our audience and they know they will get a quality show and a “good night out”.
We also try, if possible, to have returning actors to the company.
This not only helps the smooth running of the show when it is on the road but our audiences like to see