The Money is well worth the price!

Exeter Guildhall is the venue for Kaleider's current production, The Money, and there couldn't be a more appropriate setting.

Last night 13 "benefactors" were seated around a substantial oak table and an equal number of "silent witnesses" sat on the surrounding benches. This is a unique performance and the cast and audience are the same people. There are no roles or script, the comedy and drama are authentic and the tension is palpable.

At 7.00 exactly the participants were allowed into the vast chamber. After about 20 minutes the gothic door was shut, locked and guarded, £170 paid by the benefactors was placed neatly on the table, the very few rules were left for the participants to read aloud and the Games was on.

The benefactors had 115 minutes to unanimously decide what to do with the money. If a unanimous decision wasn't reach the money would carry forward to the next performance.

For about an hour the benefactors spoke, suggested, debated and toyed with various ideas on what could be done. Some of the ideas put forward were:

Go outside and give it to the first person they came across in a random act of kindness

Take it all and buy everyone, including the silent witnesses and security guard, a drink and a meal

Invest it all and try and double it

Donate it to a charity - of which there were many suggested

Or - Do Nothing

As the hour mark passed and the time for a decision grew near the debate focused on whether The Money should be spent on something serious or frivolous, selfish or charitable. The closer the expiry time came, the further from a decision the group moved. Tempers flared and five of the original 13 withdrew, while two silent witnesses added to the original £170 and joined the benefactors table. The game was getting serious and the drama increased.

After precisely one hour and 55 minutes the adjudicator rang the bell and the game/performance/play was over. She asked the silent witnesses if a unanimous decision had been reached by the remaining benefactors. They silently gave their verdict by a show of hands. She asked the same of the benefactors who confirmed the opinion of the silent witnesses.

Was a unanimous decision reached on how to spend "The Money"? It's not for me to say, but I would highly recommend you join in the final performance Thursday night and find out. You won't be disappointed and you might even learn something. You will definitely be entertained.
The Money - a Kaleider Production conceived by Seth Honner

Final performance (of this run) 28 November 2013, 7pm Exeter Guildhall, High Street, Exeter - Don't be late!

www.theexeterdaily.co.uk/whats-on/theatre/money