Review: LOVE OR MONEY, CCA, Glasgow

Love Or Money is a staging of two short plays as part of the Glasgow International Comedy Festival.

Vote For Love

The first play of the evening is by playwright Karen Barclay. Suzi Love moves to a new town and discovers the man she is renting her cottage from has recently married her sister. Her sister is a by-election candidate and Suzi is suspicious that Pamela has not married for love and has something else up her sleeve.

The play is a little predictable but highly entertaining. There are no belly-laughs but the piece is consistently amusing throughout. Actors Natalie Clark and Paul Kozinski pull off the delightfully awkward exchanges between Suzi Love and her new brother-in-law Archie Harris brilliantly. At thirty five minutes the play doesn't outstay its welcome and makes for an enjoyable piece of theatre.

Some People

The second play of the evening is Some People written by Tom Brogan. The same actors take to the stage again and prove their versatility as they perform as very different characters. David and Ruth are called to the school after their children are involved in an altercation at school. Initially their meeting is hostile as each criticises the others parenting but they are roped into joining the school board and discover they have a lot in common.

It's difficult not to compare the two pieces when they are staged fifteen minutes apart with the same performers. While Some People is very well written although at seventy five minutes it is a little too long. The play has some excellent one liners, one example being "your child is a bit of a fud".

Some People is an excellent portrayal of two people navigating single parenthood and while it is predictable, that doesn't make it any less enjoyable.

Love or Money is at the CCA, Glasgow on Thursday 23rd March.

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