A Cool Million - Jack Studio Theatre
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
VANGUARD Theatre is presenting Joss Bennathan’s stage adaptation of Nathanael West’s A Cool Million at the Jack Studio Theatre – from Tuesday, October 27 to Saturday, November 14, 2015.
America is the land of opportunity. This is not a matter of opinion, it is one of faith. Although you were born poor and on a farm, by honesty and industry, you cannot fail to succeed.
A Cool Million is described as a brutally deadpan comedy and jaw-droppingly relevant and vicious satire on a society where greed is good, and everyone is out to make a quick buck.
In this world premiere, three vaudevillian performers create the epic story of Lemuel Pitkin, an impoverished yet eternally optimistic young man who sets out to make his fortune at the height of the Great Depression. What could possibly go wrong?
Big city grifters; fluttering heroines; carnival hustlers; corrupt cops, lawyers and politicians; gold diggers; sinister foreigners; and the rise of a Fascist state! 76 characters in 75 minutes! With songs!
Kate Bannister directs a cast that includes Matthew Ashcroft, Robert Durbin and James Macnaughton.
Nathanael West’s bizarre and satirical novels are forever growing in popularity and are a staple part of the Twentieth Century American literary cannon. Other works by West such as The Day of the Locust have had various adaptations, most notably Punchdrunk’s A Drowned Man, which was partly inspired by the story.
Joss Bennathan was an immensely gifted theatre director and drama teacher who founded Present Moment Theatre Company, which prides itself on the centrality of young people to its work. Present Moment’s Theatre Lab programme co-produces classic plays with school students. Beyond his education work and the classics, Bennathan’s credits included three shows with the comedy duo Laurence and Gus and the sell-out sensation of the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe – A-Team: The Musical.
A Cool Million has costume design by Jackie Cottom and lighting by William Ingham.
A Cool Million is suitable for ages 14+.
Tickets: £14, £12 concessions – available from the box office on or 0333 666 3366 (£1.50 fee for phone bookings only) or online at www.brockleyjack.co.uk/.
Time: 7.45pm.
Also at the Jack Studio Theatre: Side By Side By Sondheim with Su Pollard (September 8 to September 26) and Volpone, or The Fox by Ben Jonson (September 29 to October 17, 2015).