The recession, debt and greed are powerful and very current subjects for theatrical exploration and Catherine Harvey uses them to weave a modern cautionary tale.
We quickly meet Phil (Daniel Simpson) and are informed via voiceovers that this is a man in debt, depressed and judging by his cough, unwell. BAM! Enter Zazie Smuts’ Julie, a very ‘street’, energetic and unpredictable girl with a good working knowledge of Latin who offers echinacea, vitamin C and a solution to Phil’s woes. Is she, as she claims, his guardian angel? No. Of course not.
Completing the cast are Charlotte McKinney as Phil’s wife Linda, a woman who is uncomfortable at the mention of having children and appears to have replaced the idea with nurturing plants instead and Lesley Stone as Nan, no ordinary old lady.
This could be a predictable tale of an innocent man tricked into selling his soul to the devil but Harvey cleverly subverts expectations as the innocent parties become unlikeable, flaunting their ill-gotten gains and refusing to learn the lessons of the previous act.
Director Shani Erez creates a claustrophobic setting of red lights and netting, the characters literally caught in a spider’s web at times, with an interesting mix of accents, from Phil’s Geordie to Nan’s Scottish suggesting this could happen anywhere, to anyone. Special mention goes to the execution of the duck pond which is wonderfully and whimsically creative.
But despite some good performances, this feels under-developed. There are undeniably some comic lines but opportunities for genuine farce are missed or underplayed while some of the darker scenes, if given a bit more shading, would have provided the story far greater power and menace. Additionally, we are never shown who these people are beyond their debt and materialism so it’s hard to really feel for them; Linda in particular suffers from this though McKinnery embellishes what she’s been given with some comic twinkles.
Similarly, why does Phil so readily bunk off work to go shoplifting with his new friend? The script seems to imply that any forty-something man, when approached by a young girl in a park, would have nothing but sex on his mind but sadly Daniel and Zazie display so little sexual chemistry together his seduction seems forced and unbelievable. Having said that, the satanic climax to act one is powerful and chilling as it suddenly becomes obvious why Julie is so well versed in Latin.
There are lots of great ideas here but some themes just go unexplored, particularly Linda’s apparent infertility. Further, the play seems to finish too soon with Nan idly laying bare her future evil plans which would have been far more dramatic to witness rather than ponder after.
There is still plenty to enjoy. Simpson excels as Phil, particularly dominating the stage in his fourth wall breaking scene of desperation. Smuts is fittingly scary as changeable Julie while Stone’s Nan underpins the production with a brooding presence. And who doesn’t like a foul mouthed Scottish granny? Overall and glossing over an unforgivable glove puppet performance (the actor in question should know the soundtrack well enough for their hand to mime convincingly) Infinite Riches provides a modern take on a classic tale but comes across more like a strong work in progress than a polished piece of theatre.
