Tons of Money

It is always a pleasure to see a good play and when Huddersfield Thespians invited me to see Tons of Money, which I had never heard of let alone seen I jumped at the offer and boy am I glad I did.

Tons of Money is billed as “a classic Aldwych Farce” which had been updated by Alan Ayckbourn, which as anyone knows when the name of Alan Ayckbourn is attached to a play it is almost guaranteed to be a hit.

This play certainly was a hit from start to finish with lots of laughs from the entire audience. Huddersfield Thespians play in the very intimate surroundings of The Cellar Theatre at The Lawrence Batley Theatre where there is no room for any hiccoughs and the cast have to be on their toes all the way through the performance.  This was not a problem as it was obvious the cast were all extremely talented actors who were very comfortable working so close to their audience.

In a play such as this timing is very important especially when there are three different actors supposedly playing the same character which calls for a lot of entrances and exits, this was superb.

The main characters of this piece are Louise and Aubrey Allington, a middle class couple who obviously are living beyond their means creating a great deal of debt, it appears all their problems have gone when they hear of a will where they are to get a great deal of money, this is where the fun starts. Diane Todd and Alistair Cheetham were both equally at ease in these parts which pleased the audience very much.

The Allington’s have a rather snooty butler called Sprules who when he is addressing his employers speaks very correctly, however when he is with the Parlour Maid, Simpson is totally different. Dominic Unton was perfect as Sprules, at each entrance he appeared to look more and more down his nose at people, he was hilarious as was Hannah Stanige as Simpson. A plot was hatched where these two had certain signals to depict actions and various signs of danger; this also had the audience in fits of laughter.

There are ten characters in this piece and each one is worthy of a mention as they all added to the enjoyment of the play, Miss Benita Mullett played by Christine Davies was superb, Benita is a sweet little old lady, always losing things and in a part such as this it is all too easy to let your mind wander but Christine kept on her toes all the way through, this is also true of Giles, the gardener who wanders in and out of the room with various items from the garden. Alun Jones was also able to give a sterling performance here.

The person who delivers the good news of the will is James Chesterman, the Solicitor, once again a brilliant actor was chosen for this part and Gareth Dickinson was excellent, his comedic timing reducing the audience to tears of laughter.  

The final characters in this piece who are by no means the least ones are Melanie Munnay as Jean Everard, a friend of Louise who enjoys kissing any man who dares to be near her, Richard Watson as Henery, a relative of Sprules who sees an opportunity to get his hands on some money and Thomas Bull as George Maitland, all these also gave excellent performances.

There is not a weak link in this play and everyone must be congratulated for their part in such a brilliant production, congratulations must also go to Lynne Whitaker who had to take over as director when the original one was taken poorly, not an easy role but one which Lynne embraced and delivered the goods to a very welcoming audience.

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