Calliope makes some delectable nonsense with 'Funny Money' production.

• Author: Kolas, Paul
• Position: Living

Byline: Paul Kolas

'Funny Money'

By Ray Cooney, directed by Lorraine Hruska & Dave Ludt. At Calliope Theatre, 150 Main St., Boylston. Performances at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday, through March 29. Tickets: $18 adults, $15 seniors & students. For reservations call (508) 869-6887, or visit www.calliopeproductions.org. With John Leslie, Linda Oroszko, Al Dano, Anne Marie Weiler, David A. Nestelbaum, Dave Ludt, Doug Beller and Phil Hruska.

As farces go, Ray Cooney's "Funny Money'' is about as nonsensical as they come. Deliberately mistaken identities pile up incrementally on top of each other with out of control mayhem, briefcases are swapped repeatedly, and swapping of a different kind -- matrimonial -- is even suggested at one point. At the center of this funny display of reckless deception, deflection and distraction is Henry Perkins (John Leslie), who on his way home to the London suburb of Fulham, picks up the wrong briefcase on the tube train.

In it is 735,000 pounds in used 50-pound notes, a surprise, gasp inducing birthday present Henry intends to put to immediate use -- grab his wife, Jean (Linda Oroszko), leave everything behind, and head to Barcelona.

If only it things were that easy, but then "Funny Money'' wouldn't be a farce, would it? Too many things stand in the way of Henry's getaway plans. Jean is preparing a roast chicken birthday dinner at home, and invited the Perkinses' closest friends, Vic (Al Dano) and Betty Johnson (Anne Marie Weiler) over to help celebrate the occasion. Even though Calliope Productions' opening night performance on Thursday evening was probably a bit more improvised than intended, it adroitly amplified the notion that none of these characters really knows what they are doing. Their bumbling ineptitude is cause for a satisfying dose of laughter.

Oroszko, who obviously relishes the opportunity to play a character not weighed down with dramatic noblesse oblige, is a tipsy delight in the role of teetotaler Jean, who is driven to consume a prodigious amount of alcohol -- even the cooking sherry -- by Henry's wild plans and insane fabrications. When we see Henry furtively open the front door in the play's opening moments, Leslie's tongue is hanging out with stunned hilarity. Jean is so self-absorbed she doesn't even notice Henry is home, until he's sitting on the sofa (part of co-director Dave Ludt and Bob Reidy's nicely appointed living room set), starring down at all those pounds...