Loot

A black farce masterpiece, Loot follows the fortunes of two

young thieves, Hal and Dennis. Dennis is a hearse driver for an

undertaker. They have robbed the bank next door to the funeral parlour

and have returned to Hal's home to hide-out with the loot. Hal's mother

has just died and the pair put the money in her coffin, hiding the body

elsewhere in the house. With the arrival of Inspector Truscott, the

thickened plot turns topsy-turvy. Playing with all the conventions of

popular farce, Orton creates a world gone mad and examines in detail

English attitudes at mid-century. The play has been called a Freudian

nightmare, which sports with superstitions about death - and life. It

is regularly produced in professional and amateur productions. First produced in London in 1966, Loot was hailed as "the

most genuinely quick-witted, pungent and sprightly entertainment by a

new, young British playwright for a decade" (Sunday Telegraph).



The Student Edition offers a plot summary, full commentary, character

notes and questions for study, besides a chronology and bibliography.