Tons of Money is set in
1922, a world when even your bath salts go to your head, you
drink champagne and you owe the world money.
Then one day you
learn there is an answer to paying your debts: you have to
disappear in an explosion so nobody will ever find you again.
Which means you are free to return as somebody else to claim the
money.
So, who is the
mad monk and why are there two Mexican cowboys kissing your
wife's girl friend? Why does your cook
loathe the gardener and
should you trust the butler and his theatrical brother? And was it a
good idea for your wife to let you disappear in the first place?
Well, yes, but only if you can pay the butcher, the baker, the
dairy maid, the florist, the tailor, the milliner, the wine
merchant, the laundrywoman and the coalman the tons of money you
owe them.
Ayckbourn staged his version of Tons Of Money at the
National Theatre in 1986, but Will Evans and Valentine’s play
was first seen in 1922, a precursor to a decade of Ben Travers’s
Aldwych farces.
This year's revival comes from
the team that brought you rafter-shaking comedies such as She
Stoops to Conquer, The Bandwagon and Charley's Aunt.