The Full Monty

With an audience liberally peppered with ‘ladies’ expecting a night of male striptease expectations were riding high for this theatrical translation of the hit film. Credit to the production then for delivering an entertainment that worked on every level. The cast are superb, they convey the desperation of the time well, Thatcher is demonized, unemployment is rife and desperate measures have to be taken. Gary Lucy is excellent in the lead role of Gaz, matched at this performance by Fraser Kelly as the small boy at the core of the story. Andrew Dunn gives a great performance as uncomfortable Gerald, Louis Emerick milks every creak from the role of Horse, Rupert Hill bucks all the stereotypes as gay character Guy and Bobby Schofield is totally charming as the lost Lomper. Martin Miller’s Dave is the perfect tragi-comic foil to the bravura Gaz throughout. The females in the company are all good too but this play is about the insecurities of men, mentally castrated by the decline of their industrial base and the lack of governmental support. The set is a stunner too. The audience reacted well, perhaps enjoying the humour more than the darker aspects of industrial decline and perhaps this is more poignant for audiences in areas that were so deeply affected at that time. As for the strip, well they certainly pulled it off – but I have to say that as a drama, The Full Monty is far greater than the sum of all their parts.

Theatre Royal Brighton, 8 December 2014

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