Bouncers

Bouncers - RATS - 8th November 2019

John Godbers - Bouncers was tonight’s trip out as NODA Rep for me at Ribchester Amateur Theatre Society.

I have seen this play a few times and it is a very hard play to pull off well. It needs 4 strong character actors to be able to stay on stage almost the whole time and play a range of characters, telling the story of a Friday night out and the common characters that can be seen.  Its an interesting play as each time I’ve seen it, both amateur and professional, it is adapted to the surrounding area of the performance venue.  This performance was no difference with the setting being pulled from the local area of Blackpool, Preston and other surrounding night life hot spots.

Set was simple but very effective, making scene changes slick and a simple process of lighting state changes to whisk the audience through the Friday night with “The Girls”, “The Lads” and “The Bouncers” all played by the same 4 actors.  The direction by Keith Flood was clear and structured to create a slick and punchy performance.  The scenes effortlessly slipped from one setting to another with the audience being transported from scene to scene beautifully.  The production by Robin Simmons had been well thought out and meaningful scenery and the right amount of props.

The 4 actors; Steve Johnson (Lucky Eric), Jim Walker (Judd), Nick Saward (Ralph) and John Royle (Les) performed together really well and had a clear chemistry on stage.  Nick Saward makes his performance debut in this piece and what a debut he made, looking like he’d been performing for years.  His projection was clear and characters were entertaining and consistent.  Well done Nick, keep it up! Jim Walker played his characters well with a very big, animated performance of each of them.  Again delivery of lines was strong and his comic timing was great.  John Royle’s performance was, for me the most natural of the cast.  John came across as a seasoned professional on stage and flipped from character to character very well.  I enjoyed watching his scenes and I have to say he played a very convincing drunk!  The final performer Steve Johnson has the most wordy role with “Lucky Eric’s monologues”.  Steve portrayed the role of Lucky Eric and, what is really a narrator role, beautifully.  His comic timing was spot on and characters delivered with passion and he naturally switched from emotion to emotion, delivering some comic moments that had the audience rolling round on the floor but then minutes later delivering some heart felt, serious text that made the room silent.  Well done Steve.  All 4 actors made a great attempt at cross gender acting.  

This performance was to an enthusiastic, sell out audience, who joined in well and gave the actors plenty of energy to perform with.

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Ribchester to see Bouncers.  I look forward to my next visit.

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