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The Full Crew: Gaz played by Kenny Doughty, Lomper, Craig Gazey, Guy, Keiran O'Brien, Gerald, Simon Rouse, Horse, Sidney Cole and Dave, Roger Morlidge The Full Monty Birmingham Hippodrome ***** THEY roared with laughter, hooted
suggestively as only posses of women on a girls' night out can hoot and
leapt to their feet as one at the end to clap and cheer – so it is
fair to say Simon Beaufoy's adaptation of his 1997 hit film can be
classed as a triumph. But this is far beyond get yer kit off for
the lasses territory, underneath the laughs, and there are an awful
lot of laughs, is a serious play. The film centred on Sheffield, the
Steel City, where a whole industry vanished almost overnight, two
industries if you include coal. That is still the background to the stage play although it has a renewed relevance as the audience face a new wave of austerity, new job losses, indignities and hardships. Whether you have seen the film or not matters not a jot, Beaufoy has done much more than plonk a successful film into a stage setting, he has taken his original story, taken it apart and rebuilt it as a play, a new venture, standing firmly on its own two feet; a new telling of the same tale. Gaz, played by Kenny Doughty, is a Jack-the-lad
with a prison record, no job after the local steelworks closed down,. His big mate, in every sense of the word, is Dave, played by Roger Morlidge, who lost his job as crane operator in the same steelworks. Dave is on a permanent diet and still puts on weight while his marriage has its own problems to worry about. The characters of the lifelong friends are the
cornerstone of the production and Doughty and Morlidge shepherd the
story along magnificently with Gaz's chaotic life never quite under
control and Dave's life a litany of gallows' humour. Gaz finds an appearance by male strippers The
Chippendale's at the local working mens' club disgusting – until he
finds the place was packed - and what they earned. So as his views on
decency succumb to the needs of desperation The Bums of Steel were
born, and not only would they strip, but they were going to gp one
better than The Chippemdales - they would do the Full Monty! Auditions bring in a line up of failed suicide Lomper, dynamic as a used teabag who lives with his mum, played by Craig Gazey, then there is arthritic, lumbago and sciatica ridden northern soul leftover Horse, played by Sidney Cole. There is gay Guy, played by Keiran O'Brien, who
can't dance but has another point of . . . interest for the mainly
female audience. Finally there is Gerald, the former foreman,
played with snobbish aloofness by Simon Rouse, who not only thinks he is
a cut above the mere workers, but to prove it is a member of the
Conservative Club!
But as poverty bites and despair grows even
Gerald is recruited, initially for his ballroom dancing skills but then
for the camaraderie which grows through hardship to the final, defiant,
one night only, full Monty in the club. Along the way we follow Gaz's rocky relationship
with wife Mandy, Caroline Carver, and his developing bond with Nathan.
Then there is Dave's uneasy marriage to bubbly Jean, Rachel Lumberg and,
perhaps the saddest and most poignant of all, we follow the rail crash
course of Gerald's marriage to Linda, Tracy Brabin.Then in the
background there are Guy and Lomper . . .
The show is packed with the humour that is the
life blood of those locked into industrial disputes, whether strikes or
redundancies and their aftermath; the British trait of finding humour
in any situation, no matter how bleak or black. But it also looks at
homosexuality, impotence, suicide and despair, father's rights,
destruction of lives and communities as industries are abandoned, social
comment and the fear and shame of losing jobs and livelihoods. Like I
said, this is not just a great laugh, it is also a cracking play with a
powerful story. It is helped by a clever set by Robert Jones
which gives us a derelict factory, windows stained with scores of years
of industrial grime, complete with the factory crane Margaret named,
with heavy irony, after Margaret Thatcher. Vanishing up or dropping down we get instant job
centres, job clubs, the Tory Club, police station, back of the working
mens'club and a stage fit for strippers. It is lit very cleverly by Tim Lutkin who
dramatically highlights characters in scene changes and creates separate
scenes out of the darkeness. Director Daniel Evans keeps up a good pace and
makes sure the story is never lost among the one liners with the result
that The Full Monty is a thoroughly entreating evening with something
for everyone, a serious play wrapped in a glorious comedy and with
enough spice to keep a whole flock of hen nights happy – and yes they do
the full Monty and it is, er, dazzling - thanks to some blush saving
lighting. The show is heading for t'West End after its tour
so them Southerners are in fer a reet gradely Northern treat. To
02-03-13 Roger Clarke For those who wondered there are a number of
theories as to the origin of the full Monty, many referring to Field
Marshall Montgomery in the Second World War but up t'north it has always
been though to refer to Leeds' based mens' outfitters Montague Burton. After the war, in 1946, Burton's was offering a men's suit, complete with waistcoat, shirt, tie and underwear at a special price, the full Monty.
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