Review: Money The Game Show
In Clare Duffy’s new play, Money The Game Show, two ex-bankers, Queenie and Casino (Lucy Ellinson and Brian Ferguson), explain the financial crisis through a series of audience participation games. Two halves of the audience face each other and in the centre is a platform, complete with cartoon noises and colourful flashing lights that combine to create the feel of a TV quiz. In the middle of the stage lies a heap of ten thousand real £1 coins (a security guard keeps watch) that members of the audience have to shovel into boxes in a bid to come away with the most.
The heap of coins is a clever conceit. However, the urge to reach out and pocket them tells us more about our relationship with money than anything in the script, which, minus the games, amounts to an hour and a half lecture on the financial crisis. It’s interesting for a while but doesn’t make for captivating drama.