Darlington Hippodrome – until 17 November 2018
Reviewed by Hayley Thompson
4****
Full Monty, a successful film turned into a stage production and what a brilliant show it was.
When attending this show the audience was full of smiling women who were extremely excited when a male would simply smile towards the audience. The audience made the show even more entertaining with their wolf whistles, laughs and whistles. The cast clearly love that reaction! And I would not blame them… This production was full of humour, innuendos then topped with some saucy bits. Not forgetting scenes that pulled on the heart strings, including a father and son relationship, a marriage that is failing and confusions with their sexuality.
As a fellow thespian the production was much more enjoyable than the film. I can appreciate how uncomfortable these actors can feel for obvious reasons. However, they seemed very much at home!
We are first introduced to two cast members who are trying to steal with help from his son due to their lack of work. Gaz is struggling to pay his way for his son and then comes up with the brilliant idea to become strippers to make some money. He manages to gather some other friends together to then begin their surprising and special choreography.
All actors portrayed these real-life issues very well, which brought a tear in a few scenes.
The actor who played the suicidal, confused homosexual was fantastic. His mannerisms, physicality, facial expressions and tone was very believable for us, especially when he tried to commit suicide. We felt sorry for this character and the love for him continued throughout the show.
The whole show was fantastic; however, some lines were misheard, and this could be down to not using mics. I hope we did not miss something important. However, this did not spoil my overall thought for the show. Being a fellow performer myself we do tend to spot some mistakes. One that irritated me was seeing the female stripper stood stage left waiting for her que to come on stage. We were distracted and missed what was happening, thinking she was coming on. Next que was a black out and then there she was on stage.
I have so much respect for the cast. Being able to portray these real-life issues with such emotion and especially from a young cast member. A huge well done to the cast. I would highly recommend anyone to come and watch this show!