Checkout Girls

On Thursday, 24th October, I was delighted to return to the beautiful Preston Playhouse, this time to see the latest offering from The Hall Players, Checkout Girls.

Featuring in the society’s sixty-third season, Checkout Girls by Louise Roche is a lively and heart-warming comedy set in a bustling supermarket, where the lives of four checkout workers intertwine amidst the beeps of barcodes and the chatter of customers. The play follows Shaz, a long-serving employee with a sharp wit; Tammy, a hopeless romantic searching for her perfect match; Shelly, a young woman juggling work and family pressures; and fierce, no-nonsense boss Sylvia, who secretly dreams of a different life.

As they navigate the challenges of love, friendship, and their mundane daily routines, the women find solace and strength in their camaraderie. Whether gossiping about customers, dreaming of escape, or belting out 80s pop hits, the checkout girls reveal their hopes and insecurities with humour and poignancy.

The first port of call in this show report will be the set, which was well-designed, bright, and cheery, adeptly placing the audience firmly in the world of budget supermarkets. Credit to the large team responsible for its design and implementation. The set was brought to life by excellent and seamless lighting by Ian Buckley, and the world of the play was supported by high-quality sound by Pete Dewdney.

The cast were dressed by Carol Buckley and Jan Winder, who clearly understood the assignment and gave us realism with a pop of colour and the occasional tongue-in-cheek moment (homemade ABBA costumes for Shaz and Tammy). Props by Gill Kerry and Viki Cuthbertson further helped to realise the world of Checkout Girls and gave the actors a fun playground on which to ply their trade.

This play was directed by Steve Dobson, and it was obvious that he had a clear vision for the piece. His direction was thoughtful and well put together, and it was apparent that he had worked his actors well. Having to face changing your lead actor three weeks before curtain up is a nightmare that I too have been through, so I sympathise hugely with Steve’s predicament. However, I offer the highest praise in the fact that, if I didn’t know which actor was a late addition, I wouldn’t even have been able to tell. Credit is due to both actor and director.

I did have some minor grumbles about this play, the vast majority of which stem from the structure of the writing itself. I feel that the challenge with presenting a ‘play with music’ is that, whilst it has one foot in drama and one foot in musical theatre, the risk is that the piece ends up actually being neither. Checkout Girls is one of those plays. What I think I wanted, as an audience member, was for the piece to be bold—add some more songs and have the bravery to call itself a musical. I think then, the objective for cast and creatives alike would have been clearer. As I say, though, this is a complaint about the writing and not something for which The Hall Players are responsible.

The central performances in this play were warm, witty, and mostly naturalistic. I say mostly naturalistic because there are a number of dream-like sequences in the play which are fun, colourful, and add to the overall audience experience. At times, some of the performances were a touch nervy, but they needn’t have been. This was clearly a talented group of actors who had gelled well and had a clear understanding of what they were trying to achieve.

In the leading role of Shelly, late addition Orna Murphy-Horton was excellent. She played the shyness mixed with the ambition to do more to great effect, and when the moment arrived for her to take centre stage and finally sing her solo, the audience were utterly rooting for the character. That Murphy-Horton was able to bring this character to life in three weeks of rehearsal is nothing short of astonishing. Credit where it is due!

As Shelly’s mother, the bereaved and agoraphobic Pam, I felt that Angela Ross was the beating heart of this play. At one point, she stood almost totally still and expressed her character’s grief and longing through an a cappella version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, which held the audience’s attention in a vice-like grip. It was such a beautiful moment in the play, and Ross is to be commended for her ability to command the entire audience in the way that she did.

Supermarket double act Shaz and Tammy were played by Sarah Cann and Diana Jackson, and they were consistently responsible for the play’s funniest moments. In many ways, the two were chalk and cheese, and it was this fine balance that allowed the actors to have such fun playing the roles and really let themselves go. Their contributions ranged from the heart-warming to the downright filthy (!), and they were delightfully well cast in the roles. On occasion, each actor was a touch quieter in their vocal delivery than they should have been, but they were so entertaining that it was incredibly easy to forgive small issues.

Supervisor Sylvia was played with confidence and flair by Carol Buckley, who was a spot-on bit of casting. She was able to wear two different hats with ease—no-nonsense boss and sympathetic supporter of ‘her girls’. Buckley spoke with a confidence that made her character’s intentions clear at all times, and she had great acting instinct. A highlight of her performance was any interaction she had with Malcolm, who was brilliantly played by Dean Wallace. He was the epitome of warmth, humour, and love of the craft. Whenever he was on stage, the audience was smiling, and he injected such natural life into the play. Lovely work from Wallace.

I had some minor gripes along the way, predominantly with the writing. I felt that the performance needed to be mic’d up as a musical would be, to ensure that we as an audience weren’t losing lines in the mix. Occasionally, some of the singing performances were a touch pitchy and needed to be sharpened somewhat. But again, I think this is a challenge of producing a ‘play with music’ rather than going the whole hog and engaging a musical director to produce a full musical.

All things considered, I thought that The Hall Players delivered a funny, entertaining, well-thought-out, and engaging piece of drama, of which they should be very proud. The audience clearly enjoyed proceedings immensely and were highly complimentary about the play at the interval and post-show.

Thank you to all involved for the invitation, the hospitality, and a lovely evening in a beautiful theatre. I look forward to my next visit immensely.

 

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