I had thought I might write a review for the latest Zombie/Horror flick good enough to get Zom-God George A. Romero’s Exec Producer credit, The Crazies. Directed by the guy, who in all probability will ruin Flash Gordon and my childhood with it when he remakes the classic, planned for 2012 (Breck Eisner). ‘But’ I thought, I don’t want to do that. The past few months it’s been film, film, film, film. The last thing that wasn’t a film was Gazz’ review of the new series of Scrubs: Med School, and that was still TV. No no, I thought I’d offer something different this week, something a bit more… cultured. Or at least the best I can do. This week I give you the review of Money, a ‘Play’!

Produced and performed by east London’s Shunt Collective, it’s not your usual ‘people dicking about on stage whilst you sit there on a chair, needing to use the toilet but not wanting to bother anyone, so just watch, like a chump!’ play. The twist is that it’s 3D. You’re right. I know. Believe me I know. I realised how stupid this sounded the moment I said it the first time. Surely all plays are 3D right? The action happens at differing distances from you, different depths, widths, and heights. Perhaps then, Money should be described as ‘4D’, as the action is also presented in differing directions. In one of those old-fashioned 3D bore-fests it’d all be in front of you. You’d be forced to keep staring in the same direction all night! Modern TV, computer games and internet porn mean I have the attention span of a kitten in a wool shop.

But perhaps it’s not simply ‘4D’. The action doesn’t simply happen around you… that would be like a shit pantomime where some of the actors run off the stage, up and down the aisles, throwing buckets of confetti in the face of an old man, giving him a heart attack, then laughing maniacally as they run off to petrify a child with a balloon animal. In Money, you the audience are part of the play yourself. You are spoken to, reacted to, listened to, and generally interacted with. Some characters at first appear to be audience members. Seeing a main character come from the same situation as you, is a simple but effective way of demanding your emotion for that character. They describe the experience not as 3, or 4 D, but ‘3UD’ I’ve no idea what the ‘U’ stands for, if anything (‘3UD’ is part of the Collective’s postcode so that might be it). But it’s as good as anything else I guess.

From the outset you step into a large factory building, inside of which is a huge construction. Looks like a scaffolding company on a weekend. There’s a bar and tables in front with people dressed head to toe in riot gear, giving out balloons. As soon as you walk in, you’re not quite sure what you’re supposed to do or where you’re supposed to go. This feeling is continued and only enhanced throughout the whole experience. You’re left after 90 minutes of bemusement with less idea of what the hell happened than before you went in.

It helps not to think of the whole thing as a ‘story’ with a ‘plot’. As although it would be unfair to suggest the piece doesn’t have one, it’s a well kept secret held right up to the last moment when, as an audience, you’re left alone to work out how to get out of the damn thing. You end up being herded into, and around what’s described as a ‘huge Heath Robinson machine’ why exactly I’m not sure, as it’s not Heath Robinson at all. It does however, seem to be a machine, making loud sounds all the way through.

What I’ll leave you with, is an answer to the question… When I’m walking home £20 lighter, will I be pleased I went? Answer? No. The experience itself is quite good despite being very loud and confusing. Most of the time it’s difficult to tell if the machine is breaking, or people are dying, or losing money, or gaining money, or gaining/losing public support, or what. It’s hard not to feel like you’ve missed out throughout this confusion, yet because of the originality of the event, it’s still quite interesting. When else would you be able to witness a room full of adult people (audience, not performers as part of a performance), heaving plastic balls at strangers (other audience members) across a room?

Overall I’d say the night was quite fun, interesting, and enjoyable. Just make CERTAIN you won’t need the toilet 10 minutes in! But for £20 a ticket? I think I deserve a little bit more.