Luck

Making Strange are a production company that despite still being relatively in its infancy, in just 4 years have made some big creative splashes, including the award winning ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’ and ‘Revisions’. Not to be outdone, they return with ‘Luck’, a fascinating and at times exhausting exploration on the relationship of a daughter with her conman father, who has groomed both her and her family, from a young age, to help him with the Las Vegas gambling circuits only Achilles’ heel: black jack. They aren’t cheaters but they have developed a system that allows them to take advantage of the casino dealers and in the process Max has also taken advantage of his daughter Megan.
This is a true story and because of this Megan Riordan knows it inside out and she had better, for this is a show that there is only 1 chance in 11,059,200 that the blistering, free-wheeling performance will ever be the same again as the show is dictated through rolls of the dice, a cut of cards, a flip of a coin and a roulette spin from the audience. Riordan is a tour de force to watch and she masterfully takes control of the show and manages to handle every quick fire change in the shows direction with relative ease.
Using on screen projections, games, costumes, tombola and a host of other props she rattles through a frantic set delivering a stunning exploration on the theme of luck, the idiosyncrasies of gamblers, serendipity and the heart break that can come with big wins. This is an intelligent roller coaster of a production where while there is much to admire, is at times too baffling to get behind.

3/5

Martin Miller