Indecent Proposal at Southwark Playhouse

“Everyone has their price, Jonny. I think a million dollars is yours.”

Atlantic City. 1988. Jonny and Rebecca are very much in love and very much in debt. He’s a struggling singer-songwriter who spends most of his time playing backup for Annie at the Oasis Casino Hotel Resort, and she works part-time at the casino and for a local charity. They struggle to make ends meet but they’re happy and that’s enough.

Or is it?

When wealthy stranger Larry Harris arrives in town and offers Rebecca a million dollars to spend a night with him, will the lure of money outweigh the promise of fidelity? Will Rebecca accept Larry’s indecent proposal? Will her marriage survive if she doesn’t? Will Jonny stick around if she does?

Inspired by the Jack Engelhard book of the same name Indecent Proposal follows the narrative of just how far people are willing to go; mentally, emotionally, and physically, when the temptation of money is presented.

This diegetic musical is set in the 1980s, the same as the original book, and this is key as some of the misogynistic tones here would not work if brought into the modern age.  This performance does well to balance these difficult story elements as undesirable values of the time, however, this does mean it suffers from the storyline losing some of its power.  The main plot of a man encouraging a woman to have sex for money, then getting upset about it afterward makes it hard to not have the audience internally screaming ‘just dump him already!’, however here we are supposed to route for them to stay together.  This may have worked if the conflict had longer to develop but unfortunately it is created and resolved very quickly.

The dialogue however is very naturalistically written and really flows naturally thanks to the excellent performers.  The leads are both very strong and have great chemistry.  Lizzie Connolly in the role of Rebecca really stands out with her excellent acting props, it’s these performers that really make the stakes here seem real.

The original score from this musical is enjoyable enough, with a bouncy hit or two in the mix, but there’s none you will be rushing home to add to your Spotify playlists.  The costuming however is excellent and some of the best I’ve seen portraying this era.  It is really detailed and depicts the 1980’s without ever going into stereotypical trends.

Indecent Proposal is on at the Southwark Playhouse until the 27th of November, tickets are £27.50 and can be bought directly from the Southwark Playhouse website.