Chichester Loot Transfers to Vaudeville

The Chichester Festival revival of Joe Orton's Loot transfers to the West End next week, the first London production of the play since 1984 when Jonathan Lynn directed Leonard Rossiter and Gemma Craven at the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue. The new production opens at the Vaudeville Theatre on Wednesday, 12 August 1998 (with previews from 10 August).

The comedy involves two ne'er-do-wells, Hal and Dennis, who stage a bank heist. But the heist goes wrong and, pursued by police inspector Truscott, the two are forced to hide the loot in an unlikely place - the coffin of Hal's recently deceased mother.

Loot was originally written by Orton in 1965 and revised the following year for its London premiere, starring Kenneth Williams and Geraldine McEwan, when it won the Evening Standard Award for Best New Play. This new production was premiered to sell-out houses last month at the Chichester Festival's Minerva Theatre.

The West End cast of Loot is headed by Fred Ridgeway as 'Inspector Truscott' and Tracy-Ann Oberman as 'Fay', with Alexis Conran as 'Dennis', Gary Whitaker as 'Hal', Gary Richards as 'McLeavy' and Eamonn Clarke as 'Meadows'.

Loot is directed by David Grindley, with design by Stuart Wood, lighting by Chris Scott and sound by Michael Palmer. It is presented in London by Paul Farrah.

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