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Louis Emerick, (left), Andrew Dunn, Kai Owen, Gary Lucy, Anthony Lewis and, leading from the front, Chris Fountain. Pictures: Matt Crockett. The Full Monty
Birmingham Hippodrome
***** THERE was a full house for The Full Monty
as the production lived up to expectations, transferring from screen to
stage well. A well designed industrial set is the background
for all the scenes, cleverly transporting us from factory to working
men’s club (and all stops in between) with a few illuminated signs and
the slick rearrangement of crates, barrels and chairs. Initially it was difficult to hear some of the
dialogue, not only due to the screams and wolf whistles of appreciative
fans as their favourite soap stars appeared on stage, but also due to
hurried and mumbled delivery of dialogue from some of the actors. This
soon improved as the actors got into their stride and perhaps some first
night nerves subsided. Set in Sheffield, at a time of high unemployment
and factory closures, it tells the story of a group of friends and out
of work steelworkers led by Gaz (Gary Lucy) and Dave (Kai Owe While trying to ‘reappropriate’ an iron girder
they meet and recruit Lomper ( Anthony Lewis ), the lad who served them
chips in the factory for years, and later ‘audition’ Horse (Louis
Emerick) and Guy ( Chris Fountain) in the hope that they’ll measure up
as members of the group. The final recruit is their former foreman
Gerald ( Andrew Dunn) who teaches Latin American dance at the
Conservative club. Andrew Dunn, Kai Owen, a cheeky view of Chris Fountain, so to speak and Antony Lewis Gaz’s son Nathan becomes the group’s honorary
manager. Last night the role was played brilliantly by Felix Yates who
is a talented young actor and certainly one to watch.! Although packed with fun, frivolity and hilarity,
The Full Monty addresses many themes including poverty, unemployment,
sexuality, body image and failing relationships. The script is sensitive
to these subjects and there are some touching moments. There was however, a feint lack of realness to
the emotion portrayed by some of the actors during these poignant
sections. This seemed to be a missed opportunity to provide some finer
balance to the piece. Of course, this was not of any concern to the
audience who were perfectly content with the overriding laugh out loud
humour, not to mention the well defined buttocks on display. (It was the
night of the super moon after all!) Overall, some fine performances from
a well chosen cast. We were treated to all of the memorable moments
and music from the film (dole queue / Hot Stuff) leading up to and
including the much anticipated, fabulous finale (You Can Leave Your Hat
On) which was met with a well deserved standing ovation. And yes, you do get the ‘Full Monty’ . . . A fun
night out and well worth seeing. To 19-11-16. Rosemary Manjunath and Elizabeth Smith
14-11-16
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n) who
decide to form a striptease group to rival the Chippendales, in a bid to
raise some money to pay off Gaz’s outstanding child support payments.