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. Joe Orton's play Loot to be staged uncut 50 years after being censored Read moreThe plot hinges on the use of a dead woman’s coffin by her amoral son Hal and his bank-robbing chum Dennis as a hiding-place for stolen loot. Joe Orton: his brief but brilliant theatre career - in pictures Read moreI’ve often thought that Orton’s play lacked the implied moral positive that is the requisite of great satire. But this production reminds us that Orton viewed society from the vantage point of an observant outsider and that his cynicism has lost none of its bite. If Orton’s play still shocks, it is because so much of its savage wit turns out to have a ring of truth.

Source: The Guardian August 24, 2017 12:11 UTC