Bouncers

Three John Godber’s in three nights had been the plan. Scuppered one third of the way through by illness within the cast and rebooted as ‘A Godber, a night in front of the telly…another Godber and one the next week!’ Not such a strong tag-line I will grant you, but it did accurately reflect the facts. Illness actually turned out to be the very least of the issues that this cast had to contend with in bringing JG’s ‘Bouncers’ to the stage, and when I finally got to talk to Jamie Cook (the nicest man in Wisbech) after the production he simply said “this show has been cursed from day one” And so, in the most difficult of circumstances, I retook my seat for a third time, consumed by sadness at the passing of Emlyn Moment, and overwhelmed with pride at the courage of the cast who were putting this show on just 24 hours later as a tribute. As I have mentioned before, the three productions (‘Teechers’, ‘April In Paris’ and ‘Bouncers’) had all been delivered studio-style with next to no set and little of anything else really. This, as most of you will already know, is how JG intended it but ironically, of the three, the ‘Bouncers’ set turned out to be the most extravagant. The inclusion of beer kegs was inspirational and provided the perfect backdrop for the play. Costumes were black suits and black T-shirts, make up was minimal, and hair was very much the ‘cast’s own!’ The genius (implied or intended) of John Godber is that his historical snapshots never seem to lose their relevance. ‘Teechers’ and ‘April In Paris’ were completely in tune with 2018 and ‘Bouncers’ has not dated at all. Only the declaration of the amount of money spent on the night out gave the game away. And that is the whole plot! Four guys who work as bouncers, interact with four young girls and four young men all on a night out. All by four performers and a few accessories. Matt Beare, Jamie Cook, Kevin Shippey and Bob Ledger with just their talent and a good script to protect them. The circumstances mentioned above had turned this nights show into something almost evangelical and everyone in that audience was willing them on with each line. A critical review is pointless, as the normal electricity you get when these guys work together was (of course) missing but there were sparks, and they flew a bit from time to time. I laughed from time to time… and they got through it. What then of penultimate paragraph honours? …. They were only ever going one way. When you think about RATz, you tend to think of three things: the mighty presence and the personality of Kevin Shippey; the energy and creativity of Robert Williams and.…. the quiet genius of Emlyn Moment. Emlyn could slip in and out of a room without being noticed in a way that Messrs Shippey and Williams never could. It has nothing to do with physical size - just presence. But, when you watched an Emlyn Moment show, it was always so unmistakably him and indelibly imprinted with his immense talent. In my opinion, always best demonstrated when he worked with the children … and never stronger than with the astonishing and brilliant production of' ‘Les Mis’ in 2016. At that moment … Emlyn Moment… was as big as two Williams’s and three Shippey’s and towered over the Angles Theatre like a mighty colossus. When I came out of ‘Les Mis’, (still crying) he was standing by the box office, (still crying). We hugged, and I said.” No-one else could have done that” and they really couldn’t! … and so, Beare, Cook, Shippey and Ledger made it through the script and chose the very last line to make their tribute. Four talented actors, four cans of beer and a toast… ‘Emlyn’. With the dark shadow of his passing taking all the light from Wisbech that night, I have never been sadder, prouder, or happier to have been there for a production.

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