Shakers - Restirred

John Godber's 'Bouncers' has long been a stage favourite, telling the story of a night at the sharp end of boozy Britain from the perspective of a gang of doormen: it was interesting to see that 'Shakers' tells the 'inside story' from the bar's put-upon waitresses, revealing the flip side of a night out from a female point of view. I have to admit to finding Godber's style a little too arch and his dialogue a little too forced for my taste - I'm never altogether sure what targets are being aimed at and the tone always seems a little uneven for me - but this production provided just about the finest airing the play could ever hope to achieve, such was the astonishing talent on display, both on stage and off.

The curtain opened to reveal our four waitresses and a fantastic set: a minor marvel of pop art splendour, full of Roy Lichtenstein inspired bursts of colour and was the very image of that curiously late '80s/ early '90s urban phenomenon, the 'theme bar'. Those of us with reasonably long memories will remember that the theme in question was invariably a disastrous attempt at importing a touch of US glamour to a previously dim and dingy backstreet boozer. 'Shakers' was a superbly well realised stab at the 'all American diner', complete with a black and white chequerboard motif, splashes of vibrant pop art colour and that hideous variety of seating which so perfectly fit the novelty '90s bar. Coupled with an 'Italian' menu of pizza, seafood pasta and - of course, this being a British bar - chips, the clash of competing tastes, themes and decor was a triumph of tasteless realism. I fully concur with director Lisa-marie's opinion that the brashly realistic set provided an arena for the four performers to really use the space to give larger than life performances (rather than being all moody lighting, a bare stage, four bar stools and some black tabs, which would have probably inspired a deadeningly 'earnest' set of performances) and this is what certainly happened on the night. Yet another staging triumph from the award winning technical crew at the Arts Club.

Claire St Pierre, Charlotte Nolan, Neely Jillings and Rachel Nolan excelled as our four waitresses Adele, Mel, Nicky and Carol. Throughout the course of the evening, we were also treated to some marvellous pen portraits of the various customers, both male and female, who frequented 'Shakers' over the course of the evening. All four gave performances of such consistently solid believability throughout the night it would be impossible to focus on individual characterisations or particular sections of the show, the superb all-round team effort really shone through. Claire gave a devastating performance as the single mum with a mountain of problems; Charlotte scaled the twin peaks of comedy and tragedy in a really fantastically affecting performance as Mel; Neely excelled at presenting a fully rounded and intelligent character, along with a chameleon-like ability to bring to life a series of different customers of both sexes; Rachel Nolan was a particularly sympathetic and down to earth Carol and her good humour really shone through. All four ladies came together superbly to create a wonderful team on stage, complementing each other perfectly. Beautifully costumed too - the waitresses' uniforms were quite brilliant and were yet another example of the thought and care which had gone into the production.

Terrifically well produced, this was a show which made more of the script than I would have thought possible and is a testament to Lisa-marie's skill at really making the most of the source material, crafting a show which was much more than the sum of its parts. I don't have a great fondness for much of Godber's work but the performers here managed to create a powerful evening's entertainment from fairly thin material. The way each performer could bring the multiple characters to life (the supermarket checkout girls; the boozy boys on the pull; the affected, would-be 'arty' middle class couple... the list goes on) was quite astonishing and added an extra layer of 'performance' alongside both the individual characterisations and the narrative over the course of the evening.

The tour de force which a sizeable Friday night audience was treated to will probably linger long in the memory. The programme notes mentioned a few problems during rehearsals (one cast member being absent for three weeks; one last minute casting) which certainly didn't affect the production or the audience's appreciation of it. Another great production from the Arts Club - long may they continue to produce work of this high quality!

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