Easy Money

27 August – 6 September 2025

Written by Roger Hall and Directed by Teresa Sullivan

A comedy plot driven farce loosely based on Ben Johnson’s Jacobean Tale The Alchemist, set in the current day. A laugh a minute tale of greed, described by Hall as having “no moral, no message – just entertainment”. An Australian couple is based in a swanky Auckland harbourside Airbnb, armed with a loose plan to shake down as many self-satisfied cashed-up “neighbours” as possible; in the hope of a quick payday and an early retirement. It’s about greed and how a fool and their money are soon parted; with double crosses, dirty tricks and dodgy dealings…

It’s so audacious, you can see the dollar signs flickering in the eyes of their marks. (Revised in 2022 to update and change ethnicity)

"Laughs flowed freely as a group of scammers scammed the scammed. Or maybe the scammed scammed the scammers who were simultaneously scamming the scammed? Either which way each cast member perfectly inhabited their role – in a couple of scenes with the sleaziest gusto your shy and retiring scribe has seen on stage in many a year – and executed each twist and turn with style."

Roaming Roving Reporter Wellington District Theatre Federation