The Full Monty returns to Theatre Royal Bath with its usual temptation and sense of fun.
The cast of The Full Monty | Photo © Ellie Kurttz
The award-winning play by Simon Beaufoy, based on the film, follows the lives of unemployed steel workers in Sheffield who decide to be strippers for a night.
They are an unlikely bunch who eventually embrace the challenge and find a way to ease their various debts and raise their self-esteem.
Whilst the play focuses and drives towards the final few moments, it is far more than this.
The different trials, emotional and mental health issues caused by unemployment and loss of identity cuts deep.
The men are searching for non-existent work in a brutally unkind environment. The effects on their relationships are huge and for some, impossible to hold down.
The women are not as fully drawn as the men so a little of the depth of the film is lost on stage but the heart of the piece is still there as we watch the crests and troughs of their journey.
Danny Hatchard (Gaz) is the ideas man, desperate to be able to see his son and pay off his child maintenance debt. He is well matched by Rowan Poulton (Nathan), a child beyond his years with a precious if precarious bond with his father.
Jake Quickenden (Guy) is great fun with immediate energy and an unwavering commitment to getting onstage and getting his kit off. The whole company work well together and the camaraderie is clear as they drag each other through hardships and worries.
It is most definitely a crowd-pleaser, with the full house on their feet at the end. The Full Monty is full of northern wit and soul the script fizzes with one-liners and moments that bring the desperate state of the work climate into sharp focus.
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Reviewer: Petra Schofield
