Bouncers

This play was originally written in the 1970s, set in a Northern town and John Godber’s modern remix brings the play into the early 1990s. It implies that many of the racial and homophobic tensions that were, perhaps, more prevalent then, unfortunately still remain today.

The play follows the fortunes of four bouncers, four guys out on the lash, four girls out for a good time and other characters they meet in the course of their job, all played by the same four actors.  Tim Bebbington (Judd), Tim Meikle (Les), Alan Marston (Luck Eric) and Rob Barton (Ralph) made up the four-man team – and what a team! The standard of acting was excellent and incredibly energised. The cast moved from character to character effortlessly.  Alan Marston gave a poignant portrayal of Lucky Eric a troubled and disappointed man separated from his wife and disillusioned with his profession.  The frenetic pace of the piece is interspersed with his ‘speeches’ where he tackles the issues of binge drinking and drug abuse, sexualization of young girls, sexualization of old girls, and sleazy men taking advantage. Just a reminder the characters they are portraying are very much alive in our society today.   Tim Babington’s Judd was well developed building the tension with his constant baiting of Lucky Eric about his wife which ended in a rather frightening fight between the two.  I won’t forget in a hurry Tim Meikle complete with pink handbag, his “clip-clop, clip-clop” shoes, and his convincing hairdressing scene.  But my stand out performer was Rob Barton for his sheer versatility; his characters were the most distinctive throughout, from the worryingly believable ‘Sexy Suzie’ to the awfully sleazy DJ. This was an excellent show with some outstanding scenes.  The spitting contest was as disgusting as it sounds and I’ll never think of hair gel the same.  The four lads drinking fourteen pints as they pub crawled their way to the night club for a piece of action; the girls dancing round their handbags which brought shrieks of laughing recognition from the ladies and the Swedish porn film re-enactment which was absolutely hilarious.  

The bare stage with just the minimum of props added when necessary gave the cast room to manoeuvre and they used the space to its fullest extent.  With the speed at which this show works, technical cues come thick and fast and Philip Mellor (Lighting) and Paul Mitchell (Sound) needed to be really on the ball and they were: the lighting was excellent and the sound spot on every time. This truly was a tour de force; the audience loved it, proof of which was the absolutely genuine gales of laughter throughout the evening.  Director Barry Starr is to be commended for bringing this excellent show to the Wilburton stage.

Thank you for inviting me and thank you for a great evening.

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