The Bargain (tour)

What chutzpah! A play based upon an apparent meeting between the saintly Mother Teresa and the infamous ‘bouncing Czech’ Robert (Cap’n Bob) Maxwell, the dodgy newspaper tycoon who went missing from his yacht in the Canary Islands in November 1991. What could these two possibly have in common? But yes, they actually did meet, in London, in 1988, and Ian Curteis’ wonderfully sharp and amusing play surmises their discussions at which no one else was present except, briefly, a Daily Mirror photographer. Cap’n Bob was, after all, not one to be immodest.

But in The Bargain, who was the sinner and who was the saint? And who was the one who was really as tough as old boots? The complex chicanery presented by Curteis suggests that Maxwell was trying to blackmail Mother Teresa (or MT, as she is referred to in the play) into supporting another of his cunning plans, and that MT was, in return, duping the Jewish-born chancer into supporting her religious order behind the Iron Curtain.

Actually it doesn’t really matter. This is, as Alfred Hitchcock would have it, the Mcguffin. As the plot progresses, what emerges is a game of cat and mouse revealing the innermost depths of the protagonists, their strengths and their character flaws. Maxwell, it’s implied, turned out the way he did, because he survived the Nazi death camps but could never face up to the death of his parents who perished there. MT was ready to take money from even the most villainous donors to help the poor, whilst undergoing deep-seated doubt about her own religious beliefs

The Bargain is a four-hander and extremely well balanced in its interaction between the actors. Michael Pennington travels an uneasy line between parody and characterisation as Maxwell, although who’s to say that the famously over-the-top magnate was not the cartoon figure mythologised for so many years by Private Eye? This is a comedy after all (albeit black), and his performance greatly contributes to the success of the piece. On the other hand, Anna Calder-Marshall’s Mother Teresa is knowing, rueful, and canny. This is a beautifully understated and crafted performance of great substance and power, depicting vulnerability as well as immense inner strength.

Adding greatly to the enjoyment of the evening is the relationship between the two subsidiary characters, Bob’s ‘sidekick’, played by Jonathan Coy, and MT’s administrative assistant ‘Sister’ (Susan Hampshire), a devoted banker turned nun who seems quite capable of matching the bullying Cap’n with an even sharper eye for a money-making opportunity. Both provide strong performances.

Set attractively by Simon Higlett and directed apace by James Roose-Evans, this fun, quirky and unusual evening is one to relish.

– Stephen Gilchrist (reviewed at the Theatre Royal, Brighton)