‘i could be arrested for theft, fraud and murder, and it’s not even 4 o’clock.”
This isn’t a hardened criminal talking, but a frazzled mother and home-care attendant named Loretta Mackey. She and her friend and colleague, Francis Shields, are having a very bad day in the new comedy “Fly Me to the Moon,” by Marie Jones, the Belfast-based author of “Stones in His Pockets,” which played Broadway in 2001.
Things go downhill fast for Loretta (Tara Lynne O’Neill) and Francis (Katie Tumelty), after they see an opportunity and take it. Or try to — these Irish women are among the most inept scammers ever, which is precisely their charm.
One morning, the pair show up at the home of their (unseen) client Davy Magee, and find him dead in the bathroom. Things like that happen with 84-year-olds.
A born entrepreneur with an appreciation for good schemes — she admires her son for selling bootleg DVDs — Francis quickly spots an opportunity to make a few quid. She talks Loretta, who used to withdraw the house-bound Davy’s pension money for him, into making one last trip to the ATM.
When the pair realize Davy’s last bet is a winner — this Frank Sinatra lover picked a horse named “Fly Me to the Moon” — they decide to cash in. Who’ll ever know, right?
The entire play takes place in the dead man’s bedroom, where Loretta and Francis hash out their plan — which comically spirals out of control.
The playwright shows great sensitivity for these working-class women’s dreams and difficulties. She flirts with the unrealistic, down to an improbable final plot twist, but we always feel for Francis and Loretta because they have very real financial concerns.
When American fiction looks at heists or embezzlement, the sums at stake are huge. Just look at Hollywood: It takes millions of dollars just to set up a bank job these days.
Here, our heroines get involved in a harebrained scheme for £60 here, £120 there. It seems like paltry amounts, yet for these gals, a little means a lot. Francis and Loretta end up in a pickle because they start in a pickle.
Throughout, Jones — who also directed — milks great fun from the push and pull between the women, especially the way Francis bosses her friend around: “I don’t do death,” she says, sending off Loretta to deal with the body.
And when the pace starts dragging in the second act, Tumelty suddenly lights up the stage with a terrific bit of physical comedy involving a wheelchair.
But while Francis and Loretta are hapless, Jones and her wonderful cast (who played the roles in the UK) never belittle them. They just show us that making a stupid decision is easy — it’s carrying it out that’s hard.