Aylesbury Waterside Theatre – until 25th November 2023
Reviewed by Susan Portman
4****
Celebrating its 25th anniversary and based on the BAFTA award winning film The Full Monty by Simon Beaufoy, this stage production will take you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions.
In the present climate, the issues that these lads face are as prevalent today as they were 25 years ago. Starring Danny Hatchard, Jake Quickenden, Bill Ward, Neil Hurst, Ben Onwukwe and Nicholas Prasad.
Set in Sheffield in the 1990s, the story tells of 6 unemployed men, four of whom have been made redundant from the steel works. They are struggling financially, especially Gaz, who needs to get some maintenance money to pay his ex-wife in order to continue seeing his son Nathan, who I think was played by Theo Hills. After seeing the reaction to the Chippendales come to their local working men’s club, Gaz decides that they could do it better and strip all the way… they will go The Full Monty!
I love when the lights go down, just before a performance starts as I begin to feel the electricity of anticipation in the air. Unsurprisingly, the audience was made up of mostly women although there were quite a few brave males who attended.
The stage was set with giant cage like structures with doors and steps. You could see shadows of people dotted around the structure and as the lights came on there were a few whoops from the females in the audience in anticipation! Steady girls.
I must immediately remark that the scene changes were extremely slick with the actors coming onto the stage and moving the structure seamlessly to adapt as an aspect of each respective scene. It worked a treat.
As we were transported to the site of the old steel works, we met Gaz, his best mate Dave and Gaz’s son Nathan. They were intent on stealing a girder to sell for scrap. They were disturbed, but Dave and Gaz returned later to try again. They were once more interrupted by the security guard who we learn was intent on ending his life, and he does not care one iota about the theft, Dave and Gaz ended up saving his life.
It’s one of those heart-warming stories.
The wonderful thing about a live show is that it is just that – live – and things can occasionally go wrong, or at least not to plan. This proved to be the case tonight, when there was a prop malfunction which took several people, including the actors to try to rectify – but it was handled deftly with plenty of banter from and with the audience!
The performance followed the story very closely to one shown in the film I quickly observed the actors portray their various roles pretty much as they were in the film, which was just fine. There were many scene changes in the first half which were required in order to tell the story, but I admit to becoming just a little irritated at the constant movement of the scaffold cage which seemed to be forever on the move.
The role of Dave was played by Neil Hurst, and he was absolutely brilliant. His comedic timing was spot-on, and that is a very difficult skill to acquire and demonstrate. Nathan, played by Theo Hills gave a stellar performance for one so young. The lights and audience never affected him – or if it did, he never showed it. Indeed, he seemed to feed of it. His
frustration with his Dad, Gaz, played adroitly by Danny Hatchard came through but so did his love, as did Gaz’s love for his son.
There were a great many laughs during this performance but also many other emotions as we were taken on the personal life journeys of each character.
The last scene of the first half definitely had people gasping! Jake Quickenden definitely showed a side to him that many people hadn’t seen before. He jumped up on the table, dropped his trousers and pants baring all to the world – or at least the drooling audience. The light was very well positioned apparently highlighting a ‘long and dangly appendage’ in front of him.
The finale was the iconic Full Monty and I have to say that the lads did not disappoint. The dance sequence was perfectly performed and had the audience in raptures. They were up and dancing in an instant, and they enthusiastically and generously gave the actors a standing ovation at the end.
Just another technical issue I must mention. Strangely, there were brief moments during the performance when I couldn’t always hear what the actors were saying but knowing the script from the film it was easy to keep up. My friend concurred with my opinion, as she too struggled to hear sometimes.
However, the stage show, costumes, props and lighting were excellent and the dance routines were a joy to behold. I carefully watched the faces of the audience as they were leaving the theatre and they all left with massive smiles. I mean, beaming. This wasn’t just the women either. This is definitely a play that left me with a classic feelgood factor and filled me with the urge to skip back to the parked car!
Well done cast and crew, and congratulations to Aylesbury Waterside Theatre on yet another triumph. For me, it really was ‘The Full Monty.’