Number 30ish - Funny Money - Ray Cooney

This isn't actually number 30, but I didn't include it while I was reading it and I can't go back and change the entire numbering system.

I didn't read thjis just the once either.  I read it dozens of times - to the point I could recite whole chunks of it.  Particularly those chunks belonging to the character of Davenport.

I was in a local theatre group's production of this, playing the aforementioned Davenport.

The plot concerns Henry Perkins, a down at heel businessman who, on his birthday,  picks up the wrong briefcase on his train home.  Instead of a few papers and a cheese and chutney sandwich, it contains £735,000.

He stops at the pub on the way home to count it repeatedly in the pub toilets.  When he gets home, he rings the airport and books himself and his wife on a flight to Barcelona.  His wife rrather wants to stay and have his birthday dinner with their friends, Vic and Betty. He assures his wife that the police will never know about the money, but the true owner of the money will soon know about him because of the works diary that they now have in lieu of the money.Therefore they have to leave now.

As he runs upstairs to pack, there's a knock at the door. It's a policeman, Davenport (me). From here on in, the plot starts to get complicated as lie begets lie. Davenport has witnessed Henry in the pub and thinks he was soliciting in the toilets.  But he'll forget all about it for a few thousand quid in his back pocket. When Vic and Betty arrive they get embroiled in the lies. By the time Slater, another cop - honest this time - arrives to tell them that Henry Perkins has been found dead in the river Thames, identifiable only by his briefcase. things get truly mixed up.

False names abound. several permutations of characters hiding under the blanket on the sofa occur.  the cops think there's some kind of swingers party going on.  Add an irate taxi driver and a forign gangster chasing his money into the mix and you have a brilliant little farce. It's dated a little. The amount of money would certainly not be enough to support all the characters these days. I found myself wondering if they had any chance of getting through customs at the end - a suitcase full of money would surely attract attention.

For all that, it's fast paced and extremely funny.  Although, from a technical viewpoint it's a very simple play - the action is continuous, one room for the set, simple lights up at the start of each act and down at the end,a few doorbells and phone rings and some gunshot damage to entirely innocent bits of set dressing later on - it needs a lot of work from the actors to get the timings right.  The dialogue needs to be spot on.  It could easily turn into a traincrash of a play.

Thankfully, we pulled it off. Our audiences really enjoyed it and I really enjoyed playing the less than scrupulous poice officer.