'Loot' Lights Up Playhouse Stage

With live theater, anything can happen. By the time an award-winning film hits the big screen, it's undergone numerous cuts, edits and revisions. But more is left up to chance when everything –both planned and unplanned—unfolds in front of live audiences.

At the Saturday night opening of Westport Country Playhouse's third show of the season, Loot, audiences saw the perils and excitement of live theater firsthand. Because there was no blackout, as scheduled, to signal the start of the show—and allow a character to get position onstage--actor John Horton entered from a door center stage as another character, Faye, played by Liv Rooth, walked on from stage left. Something seemed amiss but I didn't think too much of it until we heard a voice over the PA system say, “Halt! Actors, please halt!”

Artistic Director Mark Lamos immediately strode from the back of the theater towards the stage to explain about the lighting problem. Apparently the excessive heat caused the lighting system to malfunction and the system needed to be re-booted. A few minutes later, David Dreyfoos, the Playhouse's Director of Production, thanked audience members for their patience. I wasn't bothered by the slight delay. In fact, unexpected incidents such as this simply make theater all that more exciting, and the Playhouse handled the problem professionally and efficiently. Unlike a film where an actor has unlimited chances to get a line right and a director could easily tweak a scene to his liking in the editing room, there is no do-over onstage.

Fortunately, the actors of Loot demonstrated that they needed no do-overs. In a night that revealed some of the struggles of live theater, Ms. Rooth's acting chops shone through despite the initial poor lighting onstage. Returning to the Playhouse stage after delivering a riveting performance as Catherine in last season's Suddenly Last Summer, Ms. Rooth convincingly portrays Faye, a conniving nurse with some secrets. Like a few other characters, Faye zealously pursues the acquisition of wealth no matter what the cost.

In Loot, playwright Joe Orton irreverently pokes fun at authority figures and institutions, such as the Catholic Church, the police, and marriage. His characters' biting words and outrageous actions conjure up a world where greed supersedes familial and romantic relationships. In the program notes, director David Kennedy describes Mr. Orton as a “master wordsmith whose plays contain polished, precise, and dangerous sentences timed to go off like bombs in the minds of his audience. Employing witty but volatile language to speak painful or uncomfortable truths, Orton, like all great satirists before and since, could make half of his audience laugh uproariously while provoking the other half with the audacity of his moral outrage.”

My daughter, Anna, and I—who share the byline for this theater blog—exemplify audience members with diverging opinions. Anna vehemently disliked the play and was offended by the tasteless rape jokes. She felt that, despite the play’s occasional strong points, such as several hilarious one-liners, it leaned too heavily on this moral shock value. Although I, too, felt Mr. Orton went too far in some of the irreverent material and slapstick comedy, I enjoyed watching Ms. Rooth skillfully bring to life a character who had little redeeming qualities. I also appreciated Mr. Horton's portrayal of McLeavy, the only character who struggles to maintain morals in an amoral world.

Nevertheless, the societal issues presented in Loot are interesting and, unfortunately, still relevant. Even with glitches and a morally divided audience, the Westport County Playhouse delivers on its promise and motto to show “theater worth talking about.”