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For Love Nor Money

A director, a poet, a politician.
A twisted game of sex and love.
A hunger for success.
No regrets.

When emerging artists Liam and Mel seduce Ryan one wet night in Melbourne the course of their lives change forever. Is it love or just part of the plan?

11 - 22 October, 2023

Trades Hall/ Melbourne Fringe Festival Hub

Written by Angus Cameron
Directed by Justin Nott
With Matthew Connell, Clarisse Bonello, Alexander Lloyd

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Intro

For Love Nor Money is a brilliant new play by award-winning writer Angus Cameron (DIRT). Directed by Justin Nott (Variations or Exit Music) this bitingly relevant dark comedy rips open the millennial experience to see how far we will go to succeed when the world is collapsing around us.​

Nott calls the play ‘a car crash between Harold Pinter’s Betrayal and Lena Dunham’s Girls.’​

'Angus writes dialogue that is loaded with tension but minimal on paper. And hilarious! I was immediately drawn into this fantasy of the ugly but honest drive for success that independent artists feel.'​

This snappy three-hander is a contemporary examination of bisexuality, career, Melbourne and the arts.  

. 5

Theatre Matters

'Every seat is filled for Victorian Theatre Company’s production of Angus Cameron’s For Love Nor Money. Word has got out, this is, quite literally, one to watch.'

. 5

What Did She Think

'The actors are of the finest calibre.'

TimeOut

'an exhilarating new work with a lot to say'

Theatre First

'Sexy and dangerous like the best film noir.'

The Dialog

'insightful, intoxicating and indulgent...'

Dates

Wednesday 11th October, 8:45pm (Opening Night)

Thursday 12th October, 8:45pm

Friday 13th October, 8:45pm

Saturday 14th October, 8:45pm

Sunday 15th October, 7:45pm

Wednesday 18th October, 8:45pm

Friday 20th October, 8:45pm

Thursday 19th October, 8:45pm

Saturday 21st October, 8:45pm (Relaxed Performance)

Sunday 22nd October, 7:45pm

Info

Presented as part of the 2023 Melbourne Fringe Festival.

Show duration: 55 minutes

Artists:

Cast/ Matthew Connell, Clarisse Bonello, Alexander Lloyd
Director/ Justin Nott
Playwright/ Angus Cameron
Set Design/ Alisha Abate & Justin Nott
Intimacy Director/ Lucy Payne
Producer/ Jak Scanlon
Photographer & Graphic Designer/ Chelsea Neate

Venue:

Trades Hall/ Melbourne Fringe Festival Hub

Cnr Lygon & Victoria Sts. Carlton, VIC, 3053.​
This venue is Wheelchair accessable.
Public Transport: 1/3/3a/5/6/16/64/67/72 Trams.​
Auslan Interpreted.​
Wheelchair Accessible.
Relaxed Performance.

Prices:

Full $45.00
Concession $35.00

Partners & Sponsors:

Alex Theatre
Melbourne Fringe
Cybec Foundation

Director's Note

Angus Cameron and I have been making theatrical work for over a decade. Clawing at the walls of the industrial amniotic sack of career emergence like so many highly skilled, unwaveringly passionate, and doggedly ambitious local creatives are. And yet, despite years of attempts at career progression here we are: presenting our second collaborative effort in six years at a festival outside of the mainstage arena. This is by no means a dig at the Fringe. This vital festival is where I cut my creative teeth and found my family. And I come back year after year with excitement and gratitude. I love the Fringe. No. This is not a dig at the Fringe. It’s an indictment of the reality of art making in a commercialised world. A pointed acknowledgement of an industry forced to cling to the crumbling structures of late capitalism. It’s a rallying critique of the gig economy artists are forced to withstand. So, Angus and I chose to partner with a local independent company passionately dedicated to both the preservation of Melbourne’s theatrical legacy and the platforming of a new generation of artists. With Victorian Theatre Company we bring you this little show: a dark and sexy fantasy for all the artists who have ever wondered how far they’d go to succeed. But it’s not all that bleak. In fact, it’s quite funny. Because that’s what artists are: funny, strange, and absurd. And so is our show.

For Love Nor Money takes its cues from the great playwright Harold Pinter, in particular his dissection of infidelity, Betrayal. Like that play, this story is fragmented. Beginning in the middle and ending at the start, the play unfolds like a jigsaw. We piece together moments out of time from the meeting of Liam, Mel, and Ryan one tragic night in rainy Melbourne, to their first boozy and charged threesome listening to vinyls of Patti Smith, to their bitter dissolution in a sweltering and alien Los Angeles. Presented out of order, the play leaves us examine the clues of each player’s machinations in the pursuit of success. In that way, it’s a game. Like the industry can be.

What I love about most about this play, however, is how little each character says while at the same time saying so much. This is a credit to Angus’s talent for dialogue. Paired with a tale of low-stakes intrigue, there’s a delightful ridiculousness to how these characters interact. Who’s playing who? Who’s fucking who? And, more importantly, what for? Early on, Angus told me this play was set in a world falling apart (our world). So, what’s left to do than shag, laugh and try to win? It’s a brutally honest dark mirror to the millennial (and white) middle-class: like Lena Dunham’s Girls these characters are not to be celebrated. They’re to be studied. When presented with the option of love or money they make their choice and pay. But at what cost? Artists are stubborn if only because they keep trying. It’s admirable. And it’s exhausting. But when we’re making work at the literal expense of our rent… well… all hell can break loose. What better place to premiere this work than in the refuge of creative abandon? So have a laugh, place your bets, and let the games begin.

It’s a race to the bottom. No regrets.

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Dates
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Director's Note
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