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A CLASSIC farce has been lined up to kick-start the autumn season at the Mill at Sonning with just a few tweaks required to bring it up to date.
Ray Cooney’s Funny Money, which last came to the Mill in 2011, tells the madcap story of mild-mannered accountant Henry Perkins who stumbles into a whole world of trouble when he picks up the wrong briefcase on the Tube on the way home.
In place of the remnants of his usual cheese and chutney sandwich, his diary and his papers, he finds a large chunk of money.
The obvious thing to do would be to flee to sunny Spain with his wife and friends Vic and Betty, but then not one, but two policemen turn up at the door...
The starring role is played by Steven Pinder, perhaps best known for portraying Max Farnham in Brookside and who was last at the Mill in another Cooney farce, Two Into One, last summer.
He is joined by names who will be familiar to Mill regulars, such as Eric Carte (Davenport), Elizabeth Elvin (Betty Johnson), Harry Gostelow (Vic Johnson) and Natasha Gray (Jean Perkins).
The play is directed by Mill veteran Ron Aldridge, who was assistant director to Cooney himself on the original production of Funny Money when it opened in the West End in 1995. Ron says: “I’ve been involved with it for a long time, you know? We’ve had all sorts, Terry Scott, Erik Sykes and Charlie Drake.
“The original lady in it was Sylvia Syms and we had the wonderful Henry McGee, Trevor Bannister, Lynda Baron… I’ve worked with Les Dawson, all these wonderful comedy actors.
“It has been a huge privilege to work with those guys and they just hit the sweet spot every time, just the timing of it and making sure we get the laughs.”
Ron, who also directed Two Into One, believes that farce has been given a bad name.
“Comedy is akin to music,” he says. “There’s a discipline involved in that you’ve got to hit the note — if you hit the note, you get the laughs and if you don’t hit the note, you don’t. Some actors find that a bit restricting and don’t like it. I say to them, ‘Look, it’s like a piece of Beethoven, if you have a piece of Beethoven played by 10 different orchestras, you will get 10 different interpretations but they are all playing the same notes’.
“The actor has to realise you can have your own interpretation but don’t lose the comedy, don’t lose the music.
“I tend to use people that I know can play comedy and that I can trust. In my experience, I reckon only about 25 per cent of the whole acting profession can play comedy at the highest level, so I tend to have mates because I know I can trust them.
“What’s nice about this production is there’s eight in the cast and I’ve got four friends that I can trust and I’ve got four new faces, three young actors especially. All my ones have died, so to have some young blood on the scene is very nice.”
Ron says that the play stands the test of time with just one or two minor alterations.
“There was a thing where Henry was looking up a telephone number and he needed a Yellow Pages” he says. “A lot of these plays changed because of the introduction of the mobile phone.
“This one’s not so bad, it doesn’t matter that they don’t use mobile phones as we have a landline without a cord but of course a lot of young people don’t have landlines anymore.”
Ron and his wife Di have been focusing a lot on the younger generations recently.
He explains: “I’ve become a grandfather for the first time to a little boy called Oli. He’s 11 months old. I tell you, it was unbelievably moving to see my son Ben with his son.
“They went up to Norfolk and little Oli was standing in the sea for the first time, just in the surf as it came in.
“I remember doing a show on Bournemouth Pier and Ben standing with his feet in the surf. He is 35 now but I can still see his head in my hands. Time goes so quickly, it just races by. We have to make the most of it and treasure the moments.
“The depth of emotion takes you slightly by surprise. I’m talking about it all the time now and people go, ‘Shut up about your grandson.”
Ron is excited to be back at the Mill and is hoping that people will grab the chance for some light-hearted fun.
He says: “We’ve had a terribly tough time, so let’s have a laugh. I’m hoping that we’ll get the size of audience that the play deserves because if you’ve got 300 people the laughter is contagious.
“On weekend matinées, you get some coach parties come in and they think they’re watching television, you know? They go, ‘Ooh, look what he said’ and, of course, you’re so close you can’t miss those comments but that’s all part of the fun.”
• Funny Money is at the Mill at Sonning from Thursday, September 8 to Saturday, November 5. All tickets include a two-course meal in the restaurant before the show. For more information and to buy tickets, call the box office on 0118 969 8000 or visit millatsonning.com
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