Bouncers & Shakers

Whilst I am familiar with Bouncers, I was not familiar with Shakers and the decision to perform the two plays as one performance was interesting. They are complementary and I think the performance worked well.

 

First, we saw Bouncers and the four actors; Alexander Owers, (Lucky Eric) Nathan Songer (Judd) Chris Selden (Ralph) and Tristan Davis (Les) were strong performers. They each had to be different characters through the play, showing us what went on in the disco in the 1980’s. This meant constantly switching to the next character which they all did well.

 

The pace of this play is best described as frenetic, and this is where I felt there were some issues. It is a natural tendency for an actor to ‘keep up’ with their action on stage but this resulted in the dialogue being rushed. As a consequence, we lost some of the punchlines, and there were many. There was also a point when the song Tootie Frutie was played, this was so loud that I couldn’t hear the dialogue, which was a shame.

 

It is extremely difficult to work the stage quickly and yet keep the dialogue at a speed which allows the audience to take in all the nuances of the script. It’s a shame, because the script is extremely funny and yet vey poignant, missing some of the crucial dialogue did make it feel a bit disjointed. Nevertheless, the performances were all very good. The monologes were well delivered and did create a break for us to catch our breath (and the actors I feel!)

 

The second half brought us Shakers, set in a cocktail bar in the same period. The four ladies were all excellent. Fiona Selden (Adele) and Ghislaine Davis (Mel) delivered a couple of very poignant monologues and the whole play had a very different ‘feel’ about it. The other two actresses were Heather Sims (Carol) and Nikita Eve (Nicki).

 

The pace was still fast, but the ladies delivered their dialogue at a more measured pace, making it much easier to appreciate the storyline. All four had to create different characters to display what went on in a ‘posh’ cocktail bar of the time and they all did it very well.

 

So, two plays using the same premise but performed differently, together they made a very enjoyable evening’s entertainment. The set was basically the same but dressed differently and worked very well.

 

The audience clearly appreciated the performance, as did I. although it did recreate a few slightly uncomfortable memories, was that really what we go up to in the 80’s? Indeed, it was, and it was fun to remember our embarrassments as well as the fun we had at the time.

 

I was welcomed by the Front of House team, led by Linda Adair and made to feel very welcome, my thanks to Maldon Drama Group for a very entertaining evening.

On behalf of Victoria Carey Rep District 8.

 

 

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