Review: THE SYNDICATE, Theatre Royal

The Syndicate is a new play based on the TV series by Kay Mellor. It is directed by her daughter Gaynor Faye (who also stars in the show) who worked closely with her late mother on this production. 

Set in Yorkshire, five workers in a supermarket are part of a lottery syndicate. They all have their own problems going on, Denise (Samantha Giles) is going through a separation, Jamie (Oliver Anthony) owes money to the wrong people, Leanne (Rose Coduri-Fulford) is trying to escape her past, Bob (William Ilkley) has some health problems and Stuart (Benedict Shaw) fears he is about to lose his children. This money can help every one of them in some way, but will it turn out to be more of a curse than a blessing?

The day before they win the lottery, Jamie convinces Stuart to stage a robbery in their shop to try and solve their money problems. Stuart goes along with it but someone ends up getting hurt and the police are involved. While the win might seem like it solves all of their problems, they're left with an investigation that threatens their good fortune.

Kay (Gaynor Faye) works for the lottery and it is her job to check that everything is above board with the win. She discovers that Stuart has not fully paid up his syndicate and therefore it is down to the rest of the winners to take an anonymous vote to see if he is due a fifth of the £24 million win. Stuart has managed to keep his family together but hanging on to his shrill, materialistic girlfriend (Brooke Vincent) might not necessarily be a good thing. All the winners find that their lives have changed because of the money but it's not as positive as they had expected.

It's a fairly short play at just two hours including an interval. The TV series ran for 5-6 episodes per season so the storylines took a bit longer to play out and some of Act 2 feels slightly rushed. It's a great cast and a good storyline that remains believable. In less capable hands the characters could become stereotypes but Kay Mellor is known for her skilled writing of working-class characters. It's not particularly groundbreaking theatre but The Syndicate makes for an entertaining evening and is definitely worth your time.

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