Shakers

Written by John Godber and Jane Thornton this play is often referred to as the female equivalent of ‘Bouncers,’ John Godber’s masterpiece about four bouncers on the door of a nightclub. I have seen both plays a couple of times and have always rated Bouncers the better of the two. Well, that is until now! Maulden players production however was something else, a different class entirely. If nothing else, it was a masterclass in confidence and pace. By the time we reached halftime, the audience needed time to draw breath, let alone the cast! It was that relentless!

Directed by Edward Frizzelle assisted by Simon Jeffery and Chloe Carpenter, it was performed by just four actresses, Liza Blackman, Tayla Blackman, Ella Wilshaw and Zoe Barke playing Carol, Adele, Nicky and Mel respectively shows us a wickedly funny snapshot in the life of four longsuffering, cynical cocktail waitresses working in a bar. They play all the parts, male and female customers from the brash lads to the drunks, to the lechers, to the luvvies, to the entitled. As it says in the programme, it’s a challenging play to pull off, with fast moving dialogue, loads of lines, a myriad of characters and nowhere to hide. The hard work these four had obviously put in to get to the level of performance I have just watched was on a higher plane altogether. 

The box set designed by Edward Frizzelle and constructed by Mark and Phil Allen was entirely black, with excellent lighting by Mark Sheppard and additional strings of low-level lighting by Marion Hynes across the entire set. In the middle of the back wall a neon multicoloured sign lighting up the word Shakers! Simple but both appropriate and a very effective for the inside of a nightclub. The only furniture was the bar and four highchairs. The bar itself was white and extremely well built by Rob and Elaine Impey and would have graced any real cocktail bar.  

Costumes by Lindsay Vickors and Norma Henderson put the girls in black trousers and open neck white tops with a red tie. Add in excellent makeup by the cast themselves assisted by Lindsay Vickors and Maxine Tocco and we were in perfect cocktail bar territory!

These girls really were a great team, they went smoothly and seamless from scene to scene, miming all the actions of waitresses and customers as they did so: wiping tables, serving meals and drinks, clearing up and interacting with customers whilst simulating the absurdities of those customers in a brilliantly exaggerated, sometimes crude but always in an extremely funny manner. They knew their lines backwards, the delivery of the dialogue was razor sharp and timed to perfection with the confidence of a cast that had been doing this for ever. Impressive doesn’t begin to describe it. And as I said above the pace was sublime and relentless. This show will live long in the memory!

So, congratulations to Producer Simon Jeffery and Director Edward Frizzelle and their very talented cast and crew. A thoroughly entertaining evening indeed, which would happily have graced any West End Theatre. just a pity it only went on for the two performances, it deserved a far longer run!

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