TONS OF MONEY  *** (out of five)
Royal George Theatre, 2 hours 15 minutes, one intermission, ends Oct. 5. By Will Evans and Valentine. Directed by Eda Holmes

What if you were deep in debt and an unexpected inheritance suddenly gave you a large windfall? Tons of money. Would you go mad with joy?

But what if that windfall wouldn’t cover your debts? Would a eureka moment cause you to let fly and throw all those unpaid bills into the air?

This premise sends a failed inventor and eccentric English aristocrat named Aubrey Allington, brilliantly played by Mike Nadajewski, into wild contortions, somersaults and backflips of glee.

His wife, Louise, has an idea. He must die. Commit suicide. That will cancel his debts.

He must then assume the identity of the next beneficiary of the will, his long-lost cousin, Henery, in Mexico, in order to recoup the money.

And here we have the classic farce of mistaken identities, comic absurdities, extreme exaggeration, improbable situations and very physical action.

Nadajewski excels with acrobatic prowess and brings an abundance of zaniness to the role. He may be influenced by the short silent film of 1899, “The Musical Eccentric,” featuring playwright Will Evans dramatically engaged with a chair.

As a play, “Tons of Money” first appeared in London in 1922 and has been successfully adapted many times for film, television, musicals and a National Theatre revival in 1986.

This Shaw production has strong performances by Graeme Somerville as Sprules, the deferential but class-conscious scheming butler. He too has an idea of how to get the money.

Lindsay Wu provides ditzy sex appeal as the “hot” wife of the missing cousin. Nehassaiu deGannes delights as the hard of hearing, comatose aunt who never misses a thing and has us expecting her repetitive line admonishing others that she isn’t deaf.

The point of a farce is to make us laugh. There are stereotypical characters, ridiculous situations and slapstick humour. There were no loud guffaws from the audience at the Royal George. Some people slipped out. Others left at intermission. Why?

One was left pondering whether the English accents and the rapidity of the verbal exchanges between Nadajewski and Marla McLean, in this performance as Louise Allington, were not always understood.

Or was it the reality of cultural differences of humour? Canada’s population is increasingly diverse and exaggerated class accents may not be comprehensible to all.

Farce has a long history from the Greek plays of Aristophanes to the Roman comedies of Plautus and Terence.

The English tradition is best known from Shakespeare’s “Comedy of Errors” to Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” and the famous Aldwych Farces for theatre, which included “Tons of Money” from 1923 to 1933.

Italy had commedia dell’arte and Carlo Goldoni. France had Feydeau and Labiche.

Canada is no slouch in a long list of renowned comic writers and actors including Martin Short, Jim Carrey, Mike Myers, Andrea Martin, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara and John Candy. “Saturday Night Live,” co-founded by Canadian Lorne Michaels is celebrating 50 years of irreverent farce.

“Tons of Money” has a strong farcical plot, fine performances by a talented cast, stunning set and 1920s costume designs by Judith Bowden and original music by Andy Ballantyne.

It simply needs to more cohesively come together.

Penny-Lynn Cookson is an arts and culture historian, writer and lecturer living in Niagara-on-the-Lake.