director leslie lawton returns to liverpool after a 30 year absence

By Catherine Jones on Jan 8, 10 03:29 PM

He's been involved in a few fund-raising theatrical evenings over the years, but Leslie Lawton hasn't directed a show proper in three decades.
That is about to change when the Ray Cooney classic Funny Money opens at the Royal Court this month.

If anyone can deliver a classic Cooney it's Lawton who has worked with the playwright for many years.
The storyline remains the same but is being re-located to Liverpool and apparently involves shennanigans that start on the 86 bus.
I caught up with the director, who spent five years at the helm of the Playhouse from 1974-79, before Christmas and he told me that he'd been attracted back to the city by the chance to work at the almost-neighbouring Royal Court.
"I did a charity thing here about three years ago, and I'd been here just before Capital of Culture and we'd done a Liverpool Festival of Culture and I'd got involved in that," he told me.
"And this place was freezing - I met Beryl Bainbridge at a party in London about a month later and she said "I've had hypothermia since you took me to Liverpool!".
"It was so cold and sad, then I came back to do this charity thing, by which time Kevin (Fearon) was here and they'd done the stalls and I just thought, this is fantastic - it reminded me of the Hackney Empire and it was the most lively kind of place with a bar at the back of the stalls, and this is the future.
"So when I saw this place I thought it was great, and I said then you should do plays here.
"Earlier in 2009 they said Kevin would like to meet you and talk to you and I said have you warned him I don't work in this country any more?
"And within 10 minutes Kevin had persuaded me."
So there you go.
Read my full interview in today's Echo

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-entertainment/echo-entertainment/2010/01/08/director-leslie-lawton-returns-to-the-liverpool-stage-with-funny-money-at-the-royal-court-100252-25549809/